The Cleveland Indians welcomed David Ortiz and the Boston Red Sox for a make up game on Monday afternoon. The game was originally schedule for April 7, but Cleveland weather does not always tend to cooperate that time of year.
As Papi tends to do, he delivered in a big moment, hitting a two-run shot that proved to be the difference in his team’s 3-2 victory.
Josh Tomlin squared off against former Indians pitching prospect Drew Pomeranz and it was a duel for the first three innings.
Abraham Almonte saved a run in the top the third inning, gunning down Travis Shaw at home plate for the third out, keeping Boston off the board.
Ortiz stepped up in the top of the fourth and grounded into a double play. Mookie Betts lined a shot right at Tomlin, whose quick reaction robbed the outfielder of a base hit and ended the inning.
Rajai Davis led off the bottom of the fourth with a solo shot to straight away center field, his 11th blast of the season, giving the Tribe a 1-0 lead.
Jose Ramirez drew a walk and would steal second, but was caught attempting to steal third base.
Right on cue, Mike Napoli doubled with the bases empty, extending his hit-streak to a career-high 15 games, but the Indians could not add onto the lead in the inning.
Neither side could score in the fifth, but Dustin Pedroia singled to lead off the sixth and Big Papi belted a two-run homer to right field, his 27th of the season.
A strong contingency of Red Sox fans in attendance gave the designated hitter a standing ovation, as it may end up being Ortiz’s last home run and last game played in Cleveland, but the two teams could meet again in the postseason.
Two batters later, Jackie Bradley Jr. hit a solo shot to right, making it 3-1 in favor of Boston.
Pomeranz kept rolling until the bottom of the eighth inning, when Chris Giminez delivered a one-out double. Davis would follow up with an RBI double to make it a one-run game, prompting Red Sox manager John Farrell to go the bullpen, calling upon left-hander Fernando Abad.
Davis stole third with two outs, but Ramirez flied out to end the inning and the Tribe would enter the ninth, trailing 3-2.
Zach McAllister came into work the top of the ninth and got into trouble quickly, allowing a lead-off single to Aaron Hill.
Shaw doubled to give the Red Sox runners in scoring position and nobody out.
McAllister struck out Bryan Holaday, bringing rookie Andrew Benintendi up to bat with one down.
Benintendi popped out to shallow left field, bringing the clutch-hitting Pedroia to the plate with two outs.
Pedroia lined a hard-hit ball to left, but Brandon Guyer played it nicely and made the out to end the inning, as McAllister weaved his way out of danger to keep it a one-run game heading to the bottom of the ninth.
Closer Craig Kimbrel entered the game for Boston to face the heart of the Indians lineup.
Francisco Lindor made things interesting, leading off the ninth with a double to left field.
Napoli drew a walk to put the winning run at first and Francona would insert Tyler Naquin as a pinch-runner.
Carlos Santana struck out swinging and Jason Kipnis would come up to the plate, pinch-hitting for Guyer with one out.
Kipnis would strike out swinging, leaving it all up to Almonte.
Almonte would pop out to second, ending the ballgame.
Kimbrel earned his 20th save of the season, while Pomeranz improves to 9-9 on the season with a 2.99 ERA, as the lefty struck out six batters, allowing two earned runs over 7.2 innings of work.
Tomlin falls to 11-6 with a 4.14 ERA, working 7.2 innings in the loss and allowing three earned runs on seven hits.
The Indians fall to 67-49 with the loss, while Boston improves to 65-52.
The Tribe kicks off a three-game series at home against the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday night at 7:10 p.m. when Corey Kluber (12-8, 3.21) squares off with Jose Quintana (9-8, 2.85) .
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