Indians take over AL Central lead with 11-4 win
CLEVELAND -- Yan Gomes had two hits and three RBIs and Danny Salazar pitched six strong innings as the Cleveland Indians beat the Baltimore Orioles 11-4 on Saturday at Progressive Field.
With the win, Cleveland (26-21) moved past the Chicago White Sox (27-23) into first place in the American League Central.
Gomes, who came into the game hitting .177, had a two-run single in the first inning and an RBI single in the fifth.
Salazar (5-3) held the Orioles to two runs and six hits in six innings. He struck out five and walked two.
Salazar's 2.39 ERA ranks fifth in the AL.
The Indians roughed up former teammate Ubaldo Jimenez (2-6), who started for the Orioles, but his outing only lasted 50 pitches. Jimenez, who pitched for Cleveland from 2011 to 2013, never made it out of the second inning.
In 1 2/3 innings, Jimenez gave up six runs (three earned) and five hits with one strikeout and three walks.
The Indians scored seven runs in the first three innings. The first was particularly messy for Jimenez as the Indians sent nine men to the plate. The inning included four runs, three hits, two walks three stolen bases, one error and 35 pitches by Jimenez.
Carlos Santana led off the inning with a single and went to second when Jason Kipnis walked. Francisco Lindor grounded out for the first out.
Mike Napoli then hit a bouncer that third baseman Pedro Alvarez failed to flag down. It went as a two-base error, the first of four Baltimore errors that led to six unearned runs. Santana and Kipnis both scored on the play to give Cleveland a 2-0 lead.
Jose Ramirez walked and Juan Uribe lined out to short for the second out, but Gomes singled to right field, scoring Napoli and Ramirez to make it 4-0.
Jimenez retired the first two batters in the second but then gave up two more runs. Lindor singled, stole second and scored on a single by Napoli, who went to second when Ramirez, the last batter faced by Jimenez, walked.
Uribe greeted reliever Vance Worley with a single to center, scoring Napoli, to extend the Cleveland lead to 6-0.
It became 7-0 in the third when Lonnie Chisenhall led off with a double, went to third on a single by Rajai Davis and scored when Santana grounded into a double play.
Salazar breezed through the first four innings, holding the Orioles scoreless on two hits. Baltimore reached him for a run on a sacrifice fly by Adam Jones in the fifth, cutting the Cleveland lead to 7-1.
But the Indians got the run back in the bottom of the fifth on Gomes' RBI single to make it 8-1. Salazar gave up back-to-back doubles to Mark Trumbo and Matt Wieters in the sixth as the Orioles shaved it to 8-2.
Baltimore added two runs in the seventh against Indians reliever Tommy Hunter and the Cleveland lead was down to 8-4. But the Indians scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh on an RBI single by Santana and an error by Wieters that allowed another run to score, making it 10-4.
Uribe drove in Cleveland's final run with a single in the eighth.
NOTES: Speaking with reporters for the first time since being placed on the disabled list on May 14, Indians OF Michael Brantley said there is no timetable for his return. Brantley had surgery on his right (non-throwing) shoulder in November. Between his two stints on the disabled list, Brantley batted .231 with no home runs and seven RBIs in 39 at-bats over 11 games. ... The Indians are 2-4 vs. Minnesota and 12-3 vs. the other three American League Central teams. ... At the start of play Saturday, Orioles relievers ranked second in the majors with a 2.53 ERA. ... Orioles SS Manny Machado entered Saturday's game with a six-game hitting streak against Cleveland. During that streak, Machado has hit .462 (12-for-26).