Gregorius, bullpen help Yankees edge Indians
CLEVELAND -- Didi Gregorius homered and New York's bullpen dominated the late innings as the Yankees beat the Cleveland Indians 5-4 Thursday night at Progressive Field.
Ivan Nova (6-5) pitched into the sixth inning to get the win. In 5 1/3 innings, Nova gave up four runs and five hits, with six strikeouts and no walks.
Cleveland starter Trevor Bauer (7-3), who was almost untouchable through the fourth, lost control and took the loss. He lasted 5 2/3 innings, allowing five runs and eight hits, with four strikeouts and two walks.
Aroldis Chapman pitched the ninth to pick up his 17th save.
With the score tied at 2 in the sixth, the Yankees erupted for three runs, and knocked Bauer out of the game. In the first 4 1/3 innings the Yankees were 1-for-13 against Bauer, but were 7-for-10 after that.
Bauer retired the first batter in the sixth, but Starlin Castro singled and went to second on a single by Gregorius. Chase Headley followed with a third consecutive single, to right field. Castro appeared to score on the play, beating the throw home from right fielder Lonnie Chisenhall, although he was originally ruled out.
The Yankees challenged the call, and it was overturned -- fiving the Yankees a 3-2 lead.
Gregorius went to third on Headley's hit, and Gregorius scored on a sacrifice fly by Rob Refsnyder as the Yankees stretched their lead to two runs.
Bauer was relieved by left-hander TJ House. Jacoby Ellsbury greeted House with a single to left, scoring Headley to make it 5-2.
The Indians responded with a two-run sixth, knocking Nova out of the game. Carlos Santana led off with a double and went to third on Jason Kipnis' two-bagger. Santana scored on a groundout by Francisco Lindor, cutting the Yankee lead to 5-3.
Dellin Betances relieved Nova and forced Mike Napoli to ground out to third. But Kipnis scored on the play, making it a one-run game.
That was as close as Cleveland got as Betances, Andrew Miller and Chapman combined to pitch 3 2/3 one-hit, scoreless innings, retiring 11 of the 14 men they faced.
The first three runs of the game all came on solo home runs, two by the Indians in the span of four batters in the third. Rookie Tyler Naquin led off the inning with his eighth home run, over the center field wall.
Nova struck out the next two hitters, but Jason Kipnis drove a 3-1 pitch over the wall in center for his 12th home run, extending Cleveland's lead to 2-0.
Bauer retired 13 of the first 15 batters he faced, but he ran into trouble in the fifth inning. With one out, Gregorius hammered a line drive into the right field seats for his career-high 10th home run, cutting the Cleveland lead to 2-1.
Headley singled and went to second on a single by Refsnyder. Bauer retired Ellsbury on an infield pop out for the second out, but Brett Gardner bounced a single into center field for a single, scoring Headley with the tying run.
Carlos Beltran drew a four-pitch walk to load the bases. But Bauer finally ended it by getting Brian McCann on a pop out to second.
NOTES: Indians RHP Corey Kluber has been named to the American League All-Star team, replacing Toronto RHP Marco Estrada, who has been placed on the disabled list. The Indians will have three players on the AL team: Kluber, RHP Danny Salazar and SS Francisco Lindor. ... Indians RHP Zach McAllister has been placed on the disabled list with right hip discomfort, and RHP Mike Clevinger has been optioned to Triple-A Columbus. RHPs Austin Adams and Joe Colon have been recalled from Columbus. ... Yankees SS Didi Gregorius leads all major league left-handed hitters with a .365 batting average vs. left-handed pitchers. ... Yankees OF Carlos Beltran, RHP Dellin Betances and LHP Andrew Miller also were selected to the AL All-Star team. The Yankees have had at least three All-Stars in 22 of the last 23 years. They had two in 2013.