(Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images)
CLEVELAND--Tribe closer Brad Hand (6-3) found himself in trouble attempting to close out the pesky Twins Red Sox. Carlos Santana launched a go-ahead walk-off grand slam home run to lift the Indians over the Twins Red Sox by the final score of 7-3 6-5! Franks' recap from Sunday's game applies almost exactly with Monday night's game (Thanks Frank!).
With the win, the Indians take sole possession of first place for the first time since April 20th.
Marcus Walden (7-2) takes his second loss after Santana's walk-off homer that barely made it over the wall. Franmil Reyes connected with his first Indians homer (two-runs) and Jose Ramirez continued his hot streak of hitting with a three-run homer.
The Boston Red Sox stormed back late in the game and it was Xander Bogaerts who finally tied the game for them off Brad Hand for Hand's second straight blown save.
But with the Santana Walk-Off in the ninth, Hand actually gets the win. Below is what Santana had to say to Andre Knott after the game:
And here's Tito's postgame thoughts:
Indians are now 0.5 game ahead of the Minnesota Twins in the AL Central (Twins were idle Monday Night). Meanwhile, the Red Sox are 7.5 games back of the AL Wild Card and 16 games behind the New York Yankees in the AL East. The defending World Champion Red Sox are in serious danger of missing the postseason while the Indians are still in a fight for the AL Central.
Corey Kluber will start for Double-A Akron Tuesday night and is scheduled to throw around 65 pitches.
Indians will start RHP Mike Clevinger (7-2, 3.02) on Tuesday night. Clevinger is 6-0 in the last six decisions. The Red Sox will start LHP Chris Sale (6-11, 4.11) who could become the fastest player in Red Sox history to reach 2,000 strikeouts in his career (he only needs five).