Santana, Lindor homer in ninth
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Carlos Santana and Francisco Lindor hit consecutive two-out homers in the ninth inning Saturday off Kelvin Herrera to not only inject some life into a tired-looking offense, but to save the Indians from their lefthanded jinx.
Santana and Lindor's homers off Herrera gave the Indians a 3-1 come-from-behind victory over the Kansas City Royals. Santana hit Herrera's 98 mph 2-and-0 fastball over the fence in right center. Lindor hammered a 1-and-0 pitch over the right-field wall.
"A nice fastball," Santana said. "Herrera has really good stuff. He throws hard. That's why he's the closer. He has a very good change-up. I tried not to do too much off him. I tried to make good contact and make a home run."
Until Santana and Lindor's homers, it was another frustrating day for the Indians' offense.
Left-hander Jason Vargas held them in check for six scoreless innings. When he left, the Royals led 1-0.
The Indians tied it on a two-out single by Jason Kipnis in the eighth off Joakim Soria. It was the Indians' first run in 12 innings against the Royals.
Michael Brantley started the rally with a single that deflected off Soria's body into short left field. Edwin Encarnacion moved Brantley to third with a soft single to right field. After Jose Ramirez struck out, Kipnis singled into center.
The Indians are 5-8 in games where they face a left-handed starter. They will face another lefty today when Danny Duffy starts for Kansas City.
Josh Tomlin pitched just as well as Vargas, but he had the misfortune of allowing a run. With the offense in surrender mode whenever the Indians face a lefty — they entered the game hitting .214 against left-handers — it was a deficit too great for them to put Tomlin in position for the win.
Tomlin allowed one run on three hits in seven innings. He lowered his ERA to 7.12 from 8.87.