CLEVELAND: The Indians were quiet at the plate all night until the bottom of the ninth, when they again found some Progressive Field magic to beat the Kansas City Royals 2-1 Tuesday.
With two on and two outs in a 1-1 game, pinch hitter Brandon Guyer hit a trailing fly ball down the right-field line. It landed just outside the sliding reach of Royals outfielder Paulo Orlando and in fair territory by a foot or two for an RBI double, giving the Indians’ their major league-leading 11th walk-off win of the season.
The victory lowered the Indians’ magic number to clinch the American League Central Division to six.
Jose Ramirez drew a walk against Royals left-hander Brian Flynn to open the Indians ninth. Coco Crisp, pinch-hitting for Lonnie Chisenhall, laid a bunt down the first-base line that Flynn couldn’t handle, putting two runners on with nobody out.
Abraham Almonte also bunted, but it didn’t go as well. Salvador Perez made a great play in front of the plate to field the ball and fire to third for the first out of the inning. The Royals then turned to reliever Joakim Soria to face Rajai Davis, who made solid contact but had the ball ricochet off Soria to first basemen Eric Hosmer for the second out.
With runners on second and third, Guyer then delivered the game-winner.
Starter Josh Tomlin’s outing was a positive for the Indians both in terms of Tuesday night and looking ahead to the postseason. With Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar injured, it’s looking like Tomlin will play a major role in the postseason rotation. Considering his abysmal August in which his ERA ballooned to double digits, the club needed Tomlin to figure things out.
And Tuesday’s start was a step in the right direction, as he allowed one earned run on five hits in 6⅔ innings. He also struck out three and walked none. Tomlin’s previous start — one earned run in five innings against the Chicago White Sox — also looked more like his first half, when he won his first seven decisions.
Tomlin did need some help to finish the seventh. With two outs in a 1-1 game, Alex Gordon ripped a triple to end Tomlin’s night in favor of Bryan Shaw, who induced Orlando to fly out to right field to end the inning.
In the eighth, the Indians stranded the Royals’ go-ahead run at third base. Cheslor Cuthbert singled against Shaw with one out, which prompted Indians manager Terry Francona to bring Andrew Miller into the game. Terrance Gore, pinch-running for Cuthbert, stole second and then advanced to third on a wild pitch.
But the Royals didn’t put another ball in play, as Miller struck out Christian Colon and Whit Merrifield looking to escape with the game still tied.
Indians hitters struggled to do much of anything against Royals starter Edinson Volquez. Their lone run before the game-winning ninth inning came on a no-doubt homer by Carlos Santana, his 33rd homer of the season and the 150th of his career.
Ryan Lewis can be reached at rlewis@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Indians blog at www.ohio.com/indians. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/RyanLewisABJ and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/RyanLewisABJ.