Santana, Martin homer to lead Indians over White Sox

Cleveland's Leonys Martin and Carlos Santana belted home runs to lead the Indians to a 5-2 win over the host Chicago White Sox on Saturday afternoon. Santana hit a solo shot in the sixth, and Martin popped a two-run homer in the seventh to break open a game that was 1-1 through five innings.

The long balls helped the Indians end Chicago's AL-best five-game winning streak and earned Cleveland its first victory in the four-game series after dropping the first two. Martin finished 2-for-4 with a homer, double and two RBI while Santana had two hits, including the solo homer.

Reliever Oliver Perez (1-0) notched the win by retiring all five batters faced, and closer Brad Handset down all three batters in the ninth and moved to a perfect 16-for-16 in save opportunities. Indians starter Jefry Rodriguez tossed four innings of one-run ball, allowing two hits while striking out three and walking three but left with lat tightness in his right side.

Chicago's Eloy Jimenez was 2-for-4 with a double, and Tim Anderson had a hit, a stolen base and a run scored. Leurys Garcia and Yonder Alonso each had sacrifice flies. White Sox starter Ivan Nova (3-5) allowed six hits and four runs (three earned) in seven innings.

Both clubs entered the game with identical 28-29 records, sharing second place in the AL Central and trailing the surprising Minnesota Twins by 10 ½ games. Chicago opened the scoring in the home half of the third inning after Anderson led off with a single, stole second base and eventually scored on Garcia's fly.

Cleveland evened it 1-1 with an unearned run as Jason Kipnis' sacrifice fly plated Oscar Mercado, who reached on a throwing error by Yoan Moncada to start the fourth. Santana gave the Indians the lead for the first time when he drilled a 93 mph fastball over the right-centre field fence for his 11th home run.

The Indians increased the lead to 4-1 in the seventh when Martin slugged a two-run homer to right field on a changeup from Nova. Martin's seventh dinger scored Jake Bauers, who opened with a ground-rule double. Alonso's sacrifice flies in the seventh cut the deficit to 4-2, but Indians reliever Tyler Clippard retired three of the four batters he faced to minimize the damage.

Kevin Plawecki's single drove in an insurance run in the top of the ninth inning. --Field Level Media