CLEVELAND — Is there no stopping these Indians?
Cleveland Indians relief pitcher Chris Perez reacts to a game-ending double play and the Indians' 3-2 win over the Boston Red Sox last night. (AP photo.)
A game that appeared to be headed for the losing column Monday night instead wound up as another victory for Cleveland — a 3-2 decision over the Red Sox in the series opener at Progressive Field.
They are the Windians after all.
Down by a run, Cleveland rallied for two in the eighth inning to improve its major league-best record to 30-15, while upping its big league-leading mark at home to 19-4.
The record at Progressive Field equals the best home start in franchise history, set in 2007.
“It was a tremendous ballgame,” said Indians manager Manny Acta, whose team played under consistent rainfall with a delay of an hour and a minute prior to the start. “Both (starting) pitchers (Cleveland’s Justin Masterson and Boston’s Clay Buchholz) were fantastic. Too bad people had to get wet to watch the ballgame.”
The first seven innings boiled down to a pitching duel between Masterson and Buchholz, both right-handers allowing just two runs, but neither factoring in the decision.
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Masterson lasted 7 2⁄3 innings, allowing four hits, while Buchholz logged 71⁄3 and surrendered four hits as well.
Boston scored first on a two-out single from Dustin Pedroia in the third, with the Indians tying it for the first time in the fourth on a leadoff home run by Asdrubal Cabrera.
Cabrera’s dream season continued in earnest as the shortstop went 3-for-4 and drove in the winning run with a double in the pivotal eighth.
Cabrera’s homer was his seventh straight hit after going 5-for-5 the day before in a sweep-clinching victory over Cincinnati.
With the game tied at 1 in the fifth, Boston forged ahead again on a leadoff homer from Carl Crawford, setting the stage for more late-game magic from the Indians, who have come from behind to win eight of their last nine games at Progressive Field.
Cleveland has won seven of its last nine at home in its last at-bat and is 8-0 in one-run games at home.
Jack Hannahan started the eighth with a single, with Buchholz departing after getting Austin Kearns to ground out.
The Indians appeared to be running out of rally steam when pinch hitter Carlos Santana popped up against Daniel Bard for the second out. But Michael Brantley delivered a game-tying single and Cabrera won it with his double to left-center, as the 19,225 fans in attendance erupted.
“I can’t say enough about the at-bat Hannahan had, and Brantley, and then Asdrubal,” Acta said.
“Asdrubal is locked in,” Brantley said. “He’s swinging unbelievable. It fires us up, because right now he’s the hot stick at the plate.”
The Indians still had to hold the vaunted Red Sox down in the ninth inning, which proved to be no easy task for closer Chris Perez, who allowed consecutive hits with one out to J.D. Drew and Jed Lowrie, putting runners on first and third.
Perez emerged unscathed when he got the speedy Crawford to bounce into a tailor-made double play to end the game.
Acta wasn’t around for the fantastic finish, getting ejected in the top of the eighth for arguing with first base umpire Rob Drake, who ruled that Masterson missed the bag while covering on a Jacoby Ellsbury grounder.
After initially stepping toward the bag, Masterson went back to touch the base as if he had missed it. According to Acta, Drake said he used that as the basis for his call.
“I just didn’t like the explanation he gave me,” said Acta, who drew the Indians’ first ejection of the season. “I don’t think you can make calls on players’ reactions. Then he walked (away) on me and that’s disrespectful.”
Cleveland, which swept Boston in a three-game series April 5-7, has won five straight against the Red Sox at Progressive Field dating back to last season.
The surprising season continued for the Indians, who have taken the baseball world by storm.
“I don’t think there was ever a doubt on this team if we could do this or not,” Masterson said. “I guess you could ask the question, ‘Are people going to start believing.’ We’re just going out and winning ballgames.”
Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him on Twitter.
