CLEVELAND – Another night, another walk-off win for the surging Indians.

For the second straight game, Cleveland won in its final at-bat, with Orlando Cabrera’s bases-loaded single in the 13th inning sending the Indians to a 3-2 victory Saturday over Central Division rival Detroit.

And for one of the few nights this season at Progressive Field, there were actually more than 10,000 fans taking all of it in, the Indians drawing their second-largest crowd (26,433), which contributed to an electric atmosphere at the park.

“It was fantastic,” said Cleveland manager Manny Acta, whose team improved to 18-8 on the season, matching the Phillies for the best record in baseball. “It was nice to see so many people in the stadium and feel the energy. I’m glad they got to see a game like this.”

Those in attendance also got to see the major league debut of the Indians’ first-round draft pick in 2009, right-hander Alex White, who did not disappoint.

With his entire coaching staff from the University of North Carolina watching from the stands, White was impressive in his first big league start, allowing two runs on six hits, while striking out four over six innings.

Throwing his fastball consistently in the mid-90s, White began his outing with three scoreless innings before allowing both of his runs in the fourth on a pair of home runs from Miguel Cabrera and Ryan Raburn.

“He was very impressive,” Acta said of the 22-year-old White, who undoubtedly earned another big league start in place of injured right-hander Carlos Carrasco. “He kept his composure. He actually looked like he’s been out there before. They hit two home runs and that’s it. We like what we see in him.”

White didn’t crumble after the fourth, allowing just one more hit over the next two innings before calling it a night.

“It was just a great experience. It was everything I expected,” White said. “My goal was to be invisible. This team is playing so well I didn’t want to affect that. I just wanted to give the team a chance to win and I felt like I did that.”

White was deprived of his first big league victory in large part because of his counterpart, Tigers starter Rick Porcello, who allowed two runs as well, but lasted seven innings, surrendering seven hits and striking out seven.

Like White, Porcello tossed three scoreless innings to start the game, allowing his first run in the fourth on a two-out solo home run from Carlos Santana. Santana was the hero Friday night, belting a walk-off grand slam in the ninth inning to win the series opener.

The Indians tied it off Porcello with another solo shot from Michael Brantley to lead off the sixth.

The runs stopped for an extended spell after the sixth as the Indians and Tigers bullpens did a number on hitters to take the game to the 13th inning still tied at 2.

Detroit’s relief corps retired 11 straight from the eighth inning to the 11th, while Cleveland’s pen blanked the Tigers on five hits over the last seven innings.

“The pitching was really good from both sides,” Acta said. “Our bullpen was fantastic, giving us the chance to win, and they’re bullpen was very strong, too.”

Both pens offered openings in the final inning, starting with Cleveland’s.

Miguel Cabrera led off with a double off Tony Sipp but Cabrera never left second after Sipp retired the next three batters in order on balls in the air.

The Indians got a leadoff hit as well, but took advantage of their opportunity.

Brantley led off with a single, then advanced on an error from Brayan Villarreal, who misfired on a pickoff  attempt. Asdrubal Cabrera’s sacrifice bunt moved Brantley to third base, with the Tigers electing to intentionally walk Shin-Soo Choo and Santana to load the bases for Orlando Cabrera.

Cabrera hit the first pitch he saw from Villarreal over the head of center fielder Austin Jackson to score Brantley with the winning run.

“I’m not a patient guy,” Cabrera said.

Cleveland’s 18 wins are the most in franchise history over the first month of the season.

What do these surprising Indians do for an encore?

“We’ll see what May brings us,” Acta said. “We need to continue to play good baseball and keep it going.”

“We expect to win every night, there’s no doubt about that,” Cabrera said.

“This is better than ‘Major League,’” said closer Chris Perez.

Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

TODAY

• WHO: Cleveland vs. Detroit
• TIME: 1:05
• WHERE: Progressive Field
• PITCHERS: Masterson (5-0, 2.18 ERA) vs. Coke (1-4, 4.88)
• TV/RADIO: Channel 3, SportsTime Ohio; WEOL 930-AM, WTAM 1100-AM

For the second straight night, the Indians won in walk-off fashion, with Orlando Cabrera’s bases loaded single in the 13th inning lifting Cleveland to a 3-2 victory over the Tigers.

It was the 12th straight home win for the Indians, who got an impressive outing from starting pitcher Alex White, the right-hander allowing two runs on six hits over six innings of his major league debut.

The Indians improved to 18-8, matching the Phillies for the best record in baseball.

CLEVELAND — The Indians finally have a diagnosis on ailing designated hitter Travis Hafner, who was out of the lineup for the third straight game Saturday.

Results from an MRI performed Friday revealed that Hafner has a strained tendon on the bottom of his right foot. He was originally sidelined with what the team called right ankle inflammation, sustaining the injury while sliding into home plate Wednesday.

The Indians still don’t think it is a disabled list situation, but Hafner was in a walking boot prior to the game and will wear it when he isn’t performing baseball activities.

“We’re optimistic that it will involve a short time period down,” said Cleveland’s head trainer Lonnie Soloff.

Hafner (.342, four home runs and 11 RBIs in 21 games) will be in the boot until Monday, when he is scheduled to be examined again.

In the meantime, because Hafner does not play the field, both Soloff and manager Manny Acta said the DH was available to pinch hit.

“He’s available off the bench, so beware, the Pronk can be there any time,” Acta said. “All he has to do is take off his boot.”

In other injury news:

(bullet) Starting pitcher Mitch Talbot (strained right elbow) threw out of the bullpen Saturday for the first time since going on the disabled list. He is expected to throw a second bullpen session with the Indians on the road in Oakland on Tuesday.

(bullet) Talbot’s rotation mate, right-hander Carlos Carrasco (strained right elbow), played catch from 75 feet Saturday and is scheduled to throw a bullpen session Monday. The Indians are hopeful that Carrasco can begin a minor league rehab assignment sometime next week.

Moving day

The Indians officially promoted Saturday’s starting pitcher, right-hander Alex White, optioning reliever Frank Herrmann back to Triple-A Columbus.

The Indians also cleared a spot on their 40-man roster for White, designating Clippers reliever Jess Todd for assignment.

Herrmann, who began the season in Cleveland’s bullpen, did not appear in a game during his latest stint on the big league level.

Told you so

Acta drew fire for leaving a struggling Carlos Santana in the cleanup spot, but he was vindicated a bit when the catcher hit a walk-off grand slam Friday night in a 9-5 win over the Tigers.

“I’m not here to prove anybody wrong. I respect everybody’s opinion,” Acta said. “I don’t know when the real estate market is going to come back, but I do know Carlos is going to hit.”

Santana, who entered Saturday batting .190 with four homers and 16 RBIs in 23 games, said he got the ball from his first career grand slam, giving the fan who retrieved it an autographed baseball and bat.

Friendly fire

Former Indians catcher Victor Martinez is back at Progressive Field, but he is on the disabled list with a strained right groin and will not play in the series for Detroit.

Martinez will begin a minor league rehab assignment Monday and has been keeping tabs on the fast start from Cleveland, where he spent the first eight years of his career.

“To tell you the truth, I’m not really surprised,” Martinez said. “They’ve got a lot of young guys but they got talent. Good things happen when you have talent and put everything together.

“It’s too bad that I’m in the same division, but they’re going to get better and better.”

Minor details

Catcher Luke Carlin, a candidate to win Cleveland’s backup catcher job this spring, went 2-for-5 with a double and three RBIs in Columbus’ 8-5 victory over Gwinnett. Carlin, acquired in a trade with the Pirates last year, entered Saturday batting .341 with two homers and eight RBIs in 15 games. … Class A Lake County shortstop Tyler Cannon went 2-for-4 with an RBI in the Captains’ 5-3 loss to South Bend on Friday. Cannon, a 12th-round draft pick last year, entered Saturday batting .359 with three homers and 13 RBIs in 19 games.

Roundin’ third

The Indians (17-8) entered Saturday tied with the Phillies for the best record in baseball. … The Indians honored longtime drummer John Adams prior to the game. Adams attended his 3,00th game Tuesday. … Today, 1:05, Channel 3/STO/WTAM 1100-AM/WEOL 930-AM. Masterson (5-0, 2.18) vs. Coke (1-4, 4.88).

Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

CLEVELAND — Check another item off the list in this shocking start to the season for the Indians.

Carlos Santana hit a game-winning grand slam in the ninth inning Friday night off reliever Joaquin Benoit to power Cleveland to a 9-5 victory in the series opener against Detroit.

The Indians have accomplished plenty already en route to their first-place standing in the Central Division, but this was their first walk-off victory of the season.

“Right now, they can’t do anything more to impress me or shock me,” said manager Manny Acta, whose team won its 11th straight home game to improve to an American League-best 17-8. The 17 wins are the most in franchise history over the first month of the season. “Right now, they’re going about their business and having fun.”

Santana hasn’t been having much fun this season, slumping through most of it and the majority of Friday night.

He was 0-for-3 when he came to the plate with one out and the hard-throwing Benoit on the mound, few in the park expecting much from the struggling cleanup hitter.

But after working himself into a favorable hitter’s count (3-1), Santana finally found some relief, belting a grooved fastball well into the seats in right field for his first big league grand slam.

“I am very excited,” said Santana, who could remember only one grand slam during his minor league days. “I am very happy my team won on my first grand slam. It’s just something that happened. It’s baseball.”

“That was a great at-bat,” Acta said of Santana’s trip. “He put himself in a position  to get a pitch that he could drive, and that’s what he did. It was nice to see for him.”

In the majority of their wins, the Indians have grabbed early leads with their pitching staff taking over from there.

This time around Cleveland had to come back after some early scuffles from starting pitcher Jeanmar Gomez and a dominant effort from Tigers starter Max Scherzer left them in a 3-0 hole through 5 1/2 innings.

Gomez bent, allowing three runs on 10 hits over 5 2/3 innings, but he didn’t break, which loomed large at the end of the night.

“He fought his way through it and kept us in the game,” Acta said of Gomez, who allowed two of his runs in the opening inning on a home run from Miguel Cabrera. “The way Scherzer was throwing the ball, you didn’t want to be trailing by too many runs.”

Cleveland entered the night with the highest-scoring offense in the American League but looked as though it had finally met its match in Scherzer, who shut out the Indians on just two hits over the first five innings, while striking out six.

The Indians finally broke free from Scherzer’s hold in the sixth on a two-out, two-run single from Shelley Duncan, who replaced designated hitter Travis Hafner (right ankle inflammation) for the second straight night.

Detroit built its lead back to three-runs in the top of the seventh off reliever Chad Durbin, but Cleveland returned fire in the bottom of the inning.

Matt LaPorta hit a solo homer to left off Scherzer before Grady Sizemore drew a two-out walk and rode home on another long ball — a two-run shot from Asdrubal Cabrera — that tied the game at five.

The Indians had a chance to break the tie in the eighth, but LaPorta struck out to end the inning with two on base before Cleveland went to work on Benoit in the ninth.

Jack Hannahan started the inning off with a single, then advanced to third on a base hit from Sizemore. The Tigers intentionally walked Asdrubal Cabrera to load the bases for Shin-Soo Choo.

Choo struck out to give the Tigers a chance at an inning-ending double play, but Santana spoiled the opportunity with gusto.

Indians relievers Vinnie Pestano and closer Chris Perez kept the game tied by retiring all six batters they faced in the eighth and ninth innings, setting the stage for Santana’s unlikely heroics.

“That’s baseball,” Perez said. “That’s fun. Give our hitters credit. They came back. That’s another sign of a good team.”

And another surprising development in an already shocking beginning for the Indians in 2011.

Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com.