(Photo by: Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images)
ST. LOUIS -- It took extra innings for the Indians to get it done when Tyler Naquin hit a RBI double in the 12th to give the Indians the lead and Brad Hand shut the door in the bottom of the inning to get his 10th save and the Indians 4th straight win by a final score of 2-1.
The Indians got the scoring started in the top of the 1st when Jose Ramirez hit a solo home run to right to give the team a 1-0 early lead. And that scored held up for most of the game until the 7th when Matt Carpenter of the Cardinals tied the game with a RBI single that scored the runner from 2nd.
As the game went into extra innings, each team started with a runner on 2nd and it took all the way to the 12th inning to scratch their run across when Tyler Naquin smacked his RBI double to score Mike Freeman from 2nd to give the Indians the lead.
In the bottom of the 12th things got strange...Yadier Molina was the Cardinal who started on 2nd base, after a wild pitch by Brad Hand advanced him to 3rd, Dexter Fowler grounded out which forced Molina to stay at 3rd. Then Matt Carpenter hit a sharp grounder down the first base line that was fielded in fair territory by Carlos Santana, he tagged first to get the out, bobbled the ball a few times saw Molina was down the line, who had his hands up thinking the ball was foul, was tagged out to end the game.
POSTGAME NOTES
Cleveland has won 4 straight, 11 of 14 and 16 of the club’s last 22 games…has won 10 straight road contests, the longest road win streak in the Majors this season and the longest for the Tribe since a 14-game streak during the 2017 22-game win streak…is 21-12 thru 33 games, the club’s best record since going 22-11 in 2011…marks the first series win against St. Louis since June 12-14, 2012 at Busch Stadium.
Cleveland improves to 3-1 in extra-inning games this season, with all three victories coming on the road…the 12-inning affair marked the longest game by innings and time (4:06, prev. high this season 4:02, Aug. 18) for the Tribe this season, their longest by innings since a 14-inning contest on July 25, 2019 at Kansas City…Indians hold sole possession of first place in the A.L. Central for the first time since July 30.
Tyler Naquin(1-for-5, 2B, RBI) gave the Tribe a 2-1 lead with a RBI-double in the top of the 12th inning…marked the latest go-ahead plate appearance of his career, as he has never recorded a go-ahead PA past the bottom of the 9th inning (3x, last: May 3, 2019 against Seattle, walk-off single).
Naquin extends his hitting streak to 9 games and has now tallied an extra-base hit in 6 straight games…his XBH streak is the longest active streak in MLB and the longest XBH streak of his career, surpassing a previous high of 4-straight games (3x)…marks the longest XBH streak by a member of the Tribe since José Ramírez produced an 8-game streak from Aug. 2-9, 2019…is hitting .342 (13-for-38) with 6 doubles, one home run, 6 RBI and 4 runs scored over his 9-game hitting streak.
Carlos Carrasco(ND, 2BB, 85 pitches-54 strikes) tallied 6 strikeouts in 6.0 scoreless innings of work to give him 1,268 punchouts over his career…passed CC Sabathia(1,265)for 6th on the Indians all-time strikeout list.
James Karinchak (1.0IP, 2H, 1R/ER, BB) allowed just his second earned run on the season (1.02ERA/3R/2ER/17.2IP), striking out 3 to up his Major League-lead 34 strikeouts among relievers…has now recorded one-or-more K’s in 18 straight appearances dating back to Sept. 25, 2019 (37SO), T5th-longest streak in franchise history (4 others, last: Zach McAllister, Sept 20, 2014-May 18, 2015).
José Ramírez(2-for-5, HR, RBI, R) deposited the sixth pitch of the ballgame over the right field wall to give the Tribe an early 1-0 lead…marks his 117th career home run in a Cleveland uniform, good for sole possession of 20th on the Tribe’s all-time home run list…26 of his 117 career home runs have come in the 1st inning, the most of any inning over his career.
Brad Hand (1.0IP) earned his 10th save of the season and is a perfect 10-for-10 in save opportunities this season…used just 3 pitches and faced 2 batters for a 3-out save.
The Indians and Cardinals wrap up the three game series on Sunday afternoon with a first pitch scheduled for 2:15 p.m. Aaron Civale (3-3, 3.15 ERA) opposes Adam Wainwright (2-0, 2.88 ERA)