Encarnacion homers twice in makeup game
BOSTON — Edwin Encarnacion's invisible parrot got a workout Monday night at Fenway Park. So did his handler.
Encarnacion hit consecutive two-run homers in the fifth and sixth innings to lead the Indians to a 7-3 win over the Red Sox at Fenway Park to make up an Aug. 2 rainout.
Encarnacion is at 26 and counting for the season. As for the invisible parrot that rides around the bases when Encarnacion crooks his right
arm, he's going to be hard to keep caged.
Trevor Bauer (11-8, 4.75 ERA) had trouble keeping the ball in the park early, but the three homers he allowed didn't beat him or the Tribe. Bauer held the Red Sox, who had won 10 of their previous 11 games, to three runs on seven hits in 6 innings.
When a power hitter gets hot, he doesn't hit singles, he knocks walls down. That's what Encarnacion is doing.
Encarnacion's first homer, a two-run drive that cleared the Green Monster, shattered a 3-3 tie in the fifth and put the Tribe ahead 5-3. He hit a 1-and-1 pitch from Doug Fister (2-6, 5.56).
He came to bat in the sixth in an inning that was brought back to life by an Indians challenge. Jose Ramirez sent a hard shot to Rafael Devers at third. Devers bobbled the ball, but Ramirez was called out at first to end the inning.
The Tribe challenged the call and it was overturned. Devers was charged with an error and Encarnacion lined a 1-and-1 pitch from Heath Hembree over the Monster for a 7-3 lead.
When the Indians last saw Fister, he was holding them to two runs on in 7 innings on July 31. He looked like the Fister who used to torment them when he pitched for Detroit from 2011
through 2013.
Monday night they saw the Fister who was claimed on waivers by the Red Sox in June. They took a 3-0 lead against him in the second, but it could have been more, seeing how they sent nine batters to the plate and left the bases loaded when Encarnacion popped up.
The big hit of the inning was Francisco Lindor's two-run double past third to make it 3-0.
If the Indians learned one thing in their last visit to Fenway, it's that no lead is safe. They learned it again Monday.
Bauer pitched well except for one thing, he couldn't keep the ball in the park. All the damage was done by Boston rookies — Devers hit two homers and Andrew Benintendi one.