Indians posts five straight win against Mariners

Carlos Santana belted a go-ahead two-run homer with two outs in the eighth inning as the host Cleveland Indians posted a 5-4 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Saturday. Francisco Lindor homered to lead off the third inning and Jake Bauers and Roberto Perez each had a two-out RBI single for the Indians, who have won five straight against the Mariners this season.

Former Cleveland slugger Edwin Encarnacion homered to lead off the second inning, Daniel Vogelbach followed suit in the fourth and Tim Beckham did the same in the eighth. Dylan Moore also went deep for slumping Seattle, which has lost six in a row and 15 of its last 20. After Beckham's blast gave the Mariners a 4-3 advantage, Lindor singled to lead off the eighth before Santana followed three batters later by depositing a 2-1 slider from Connor Sadzeck (0-1) over the wall in centre field for his fifth homer.

Tyler Olson (1-0) retired the lone batter he faced to end the eighth inning and pick up the win. Brad Hand worked around a leadoff walk in the ninth to strike out the next three batters for his 10th save. Lindor nearly snapped a 3-3 tie in the fifth inning with aggressive baserunning, as he advanced from first to third base on a failed pickoff attempt from Mike Leake. The throw bounced away from Mariners third baseman Moore but left fielder Domingo Santana backed up the play and threw out Lindor at the plate.

Encarnacion sent a 1-2 changeup from Carlos Carrasco into the bleacher seats in left field before Bauers' RBI single to right field plated Kipnis in the bottom of the second to tie the game at 1-1. Lindor launched a 3-1 sinker from Leake over the wall in the right-centre field to give the Indians a 2-1 lead in the third before Vogelbach answered in the fourth, depositing a 2-2 changeup over the wall in right.

Cleveland reclaimed the lead in the bottom of the fourth after Roberto Perez's RBI single scored Bauers, although Seattle catcher Omar Narvaez elected against making the tag in favour of throwing out the runner at second. Moore answered with a two-out hit of his own, belting a solo homer in the fifth inning to tie the game at 3.

(With inputs from agencies.)