Ramirez's HR lifts Indians over Blue Jays
CLEVELAND -- Jose Ramirez hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning to lift the Cleveland Indians to a 3-2 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays Sunday afternoon at Progressive Field.
Cleveland won two games of the three-game series in which all three games were decided by one run.
With one out in the eighth inning and Toronto leading 2-1, Brett Cecil relieved starter Marcus Stroman. Cecil retired Jason Kipnis on a fly out for the second out, but Francisco Lindor reached on an infield single.
Ramirez then hit the first pitch Cecil threw him over the left-field wall for his 10th home run, giving Cleveland a 3-2 lead. It was Ramirez's second late-game homer of the series. Friday night he hit a game-tying home run in the ninth inning, immediately before a walk-off inside-the-park homer by Tyler Naquin.
Cody Allen pitched the ninth inning to earn 24th save, but it wasn't easy. Allen struck out the first two batters of the inning, but the next two, Josh Donaldson and Edwin Encarnacion, both drew walks. Russell Martin worked the count to 3-2 before lining Allen's 30th pitch of the inning to right fielder Lonnie Chisenhall for the final out.
Mike Clevinger (2-1) pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings, striking out three, to get the win. Cecil (1-7) took the loss.
Both starting pitchers pitched well, but were not involved in the decision.
Stroman pitched 7 1/3 innings, allowing one run on seven hits with nine strikeouts and one walk. Cleveland's Corey Kluber pitched 6 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on six hits with eight strikeouts and four walks.
Kluber retired the first six batters he faced in the game, three on strikeouts, but then suddenly lost his effectiveness for an inning in the third. Melvin Upton Jr. led off the inning with a home run over the left-field wall. Ezequiel Carrera popped out, and Ryan Goins walked, but was quickly thrown out trying to steal second.
Devon Travis re-started the Toronto rally with a double into the right-field corner. Donaldson, who sat out the first two games of the series with a sore thumb, slapped a single down the right-field line to score Travis and give Toronto a 2-0 lead.
After that third-inning hiccup Kluber settled down and held the Blue Jays scoreless on two hits over the next three innings.
Stroman held Cleveland scoreless through the first five innings, although the Indians had base runners in four of the five innings. But Cleveland hit into three double plays to short circuit rallies.
Chisenhall led off the second inning with a single, but Abraham Almonte grounded into a double play. In the third inning, Michael Martinez led off with a walk, but he was later erased when Jason Kipnis hit into an inning-ending double play.
Cleveland finally broke through to score a run on Stroman in the sixth inning, but even that inning included a double play. The inning began with consecutive singles by Carlos Santana, Kipnis and Lindor, with the single by Lindor driving in Santana to cut the Toronto lead to 2-1.
The Blue Jays knocked Kluber out of the game in the seventh inning, even though they failed to score a run. After Kluber retired the first two batters, Goins drew a walk, Travis singled and Donaldson drew a walk to load the bases.
Clevinger relieved Kluber. While pitching to Edwin Encarnacion, Clevinger was called for a balk by third base umpire Greg Gibson, and Goins trotted home with an apparent run. However, time had been called before the balk was called. Goins returned to third, and Clevinger struck out Encarnacion to end the inning.
NOTES: Blue Jays RHP Aaron Sanchez has been optioned to Class A Dunedin, which is part of the Blue Jays' strategy to limit his innings. Sanchez will not pitch in a game at Dunedin. He will be recalled by the Blue Jays on Aug. 31 and will pitch that day against Baltimore. ... To replace Sanchez on the roster, the Blue Jays recalled LHP Aaron Loup from Triple-A Buffalo. In 17 relief appearances with Buffalo, Loup was 3-0 with a 1.08 ERA. ... At the start of play Sunday, the Central Division-leading Indians held a seven-game lead on second-place Detroit. That's the Indians' biggest lead this late in the season since the last day of the 2007 season when they won the Central Division by eight games over the second-place Tigers. ... Indians 3B Jose Ramirez has reached base safely in 26 consecutive games, the longest active streak in the majors. Ramirez is hitting .382 (39-for-102) during the streak.