With his arcing liner threatening to breach the fence in right, Carlos Santana raced out of the batter’s box at Progressive Field, hoping his hit would go for four bases, not two. As it sailed into a frantic crowd, Santana hoisted an arm in satisfaction and carried on with his home-run trot.
The rest of the Indians, meanwhile, swarmed to home plate and an electrified crowd roared its approval. Santana neared the celebration and tipped it off by flipping his batting helmet into the air and skipping toward the throng.
While water sprayed and men bounced, the Indians savored their Major League-leading fifth walk-off home run and third in less than a week. Thanks to Cleveland’s latest hero, Santana, the Indians beat the White Sox, 6-5, in 10 innings on Wednesday, extending their best winning streak of the season to seven games.
“I’m very happy,” Santana said afterward. “I love it. I love the situation.”
At 59-48, the Indians are 11 games above .500 for the first time since June 5, 2011. They’ve won 12 of their last 16 and 14 of their last 20. The Tribe is just one victory at Progressive Field away from matching its home win total from all of last season, when the club posted a 37-44 mark in its own yard.
Though the Indians remained 2 1/2 games behind Detroit in the American League Central, their win on Wednesday — combined with Baltimore’s loss — gave them possession of the second Wild Card slot in the AL.
Yes, the Indians are right where they need to be, and that has largely been a result of the remarkable becoming commonplace at Progressive Field. In the current homestand alone, the Indians have won on walk-off home runs by Ryan Raburn, Jason Giambi and Santana. Cleveland has nine walk-off wins this season and is 7-1 in extra innings.
“It never gets old,” said Michael Bourn, who went 1-for-3 with a double, an RBI and a run scored. “It’s always fun. We’d rather do it easier, but it’s not going to always be that way.”
Jason Kipnis and Yan Gomes are the other two players to hit walk-off home runs for Cleveland this season. Along with Kipnis, Nick Swisher, Drew Stubbs and Mark Reynolds have spurred the Tribe to walk-off wins with plays that were confined to the field.
“We’re not really worried about who the hero is,” Bourn said. “We’re worried about just trying to win the game.”
What made Santana’s homer on Wednesday all the more enjoyable for Cleveland was the sequence of events that preceded it. After the White Sox grabbed a late lead with Jeff Keppinger’s two-out, two-run single off Cody Allen in the top of the ninth inning, the Indians came screaming back in the bottom of the frame. Michael Brantley led off with a double, and the sacks were full after Giambi was hit by a pitch and Stubbs reached on a bunt single.
A pair of deep sacrifice flies by Bourn and Kipnis knotted things up.
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