Cleveland, OH (92.3 The Fan) – Carlos Santana hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth and the Indians beat the Blue Jays 3-2 on Friday night. It was his first home run of the season. Santana has six walk-off hits in his career, five of them are home runs.
-- CARLOS SANTANA WALK OFF ---- CARLOS SANTANA WALK OFF ---- CARLOS SANTANA WALK OFF --We missed you, @TheRealSlamtana! pic.twitter.com/Qss1fYs3dN
— SportsTime Ohio (@SportsTimeOhio) April 6, 2019
Shane Bieber was impressive in his first start of the season. He pitched six innings, allowing two hits and two runs. The 23-year-old finished with nine strikeouts and two walks. He gave up a two-run home run to Freddy Galvis in the fifth inning. Outside of the homer, it was a pretty flawless start for Bieber.
"He's so mature beyond his years and he's getting better right in front of our eyes," Francona said before the game. "Bieber seems to execute his best pitches when he needs to. That's a trait that really helps. We saw that last year with him so often – he'd get himself in a tight spot, but then he'd execute the best pitches of the game."
The Indians' rotation is great and Bieber is a big part of it. Everyone knows about the 'big three' of Corey Kluber, Trevor Bauer and Carlos Carrasco, but the emergence of Mike Clevinger and Bieber's potential give the Tribe one of the best rotations in baseball.
Neil Ramirez pitched a perfect seventh inning. Oliver Perez got out of a jam in the eighth. The Blue Jays had runners on the corners in the eighth, but Oliver Perez struckout Alen Hanson to avoid any damage. Adam Cimber pitched a perfect ninth inning.
Kevin Plawecki got the scoring started with a solo home run in the third inning. It was his first hit as a member of the Indians.
Up Next – These two teams play again on Saturday. Carlos Carrasco will get his second start of the season. He'll go up against Thomas Pannone.
