Yan Gomes sent a pitch from lefty Alex Claudio bouncing up the middle and into center field, scoring Lonnie Chisenhall and sending the Indians to a 5-4 walk-off victory over the Rangers in 11 innings on Wednesday night.
Cleveland’s players poured from the dugout to celebrate the team’s first walk-off win of the season. The victory helped the Tribe avoid a sweep of the three-game series.
“It is big, man,” Gomes said. “We haven’t done so well in the late innings. The team that’s coming in right now [Kansas City], they have done well. So we’re just excited to play well against a first-place team like the Rangers, just come in and get the momentum going after this game.”
Indians starter Trevor Bauer picked up a no-decision after yielding three runs on four hits in seven innings, in which he struck out six and walked three. The right-hander allowed a run in both the first and third innings, and then gave up a game-tying solo home run to Texas left fielder — and Cleveland native — Ryan Rua in the seventh.
Rangers lefty Cole Hamels also exited without a decision, but turned in a solid effort one outing after a rough performance against the Pirates. Over seven innings, Hamels struck out five and limited Cleveland to three runs on six hits, including a two-run home run off the bat of Mike Napoli in the first inning. That shot was projected to land 411 feet away from home plate with an exit velocity of 108 mph, per Statcast™.
In the eighth inning, Juan Uribe plated Jose Ramirez from second base with an RBI single off Texas reliever Luke Jackson, giving Cleveland a short-lived, 4-3 advantage. Texas countered in the ninth against Tribe closer Cody Allen, who issued a leadoff walk to Mitch Moreland and eventually gave up a game-tying fielder’s-choice groundout to Jared Hoying.
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