The starting pitchers tonight were righthander Rick Porcello for Boston and righthander Trevor Bauer for Cleveland.
This season, Porcello was 22-4, while Bauer was 12-8.
Porcello led the Majors this season with his 22 victories and was fifth in ERA (3.15).
In the top of the first inning, Boston got into scoring position right away and also opened the score.
Dustin Pedroia led off with a double and next batter Brad Holt singled to put runners at the corners.
Hereafter, Trevor Bauer struckout Mookie Betts and David Ortiz popped out, but then Hanley Ramirez followed with a double.
That brought in Pedroia and Holt also was waved home to score.
On the relay-throw from centerfield, catcher Roberto Perez tagged the head-first sliding Holt in a close play.
Home Plate Umpire Brian Knight ruled Holt safe and that was followed by a challenge.
The call on the field was overturned, as Perez tagged Holt on his leg a fraction before he touched the plate and so, he was out, ending the inning.
But Boston had taken an 1-0 lead.
...Xander Bogaerts was 0-for-4 tonight with 3 strikeouts...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Cleveland came alongside in the bottom of the second inning when another umpiring call was overturned.
José Ramirez led off with a double, then scored on a following single by Lonnie Chisenhall.
On the throw to the plate, Chisenhall advanced to second base, but was tagged on his back by short stop Xander Bogaerts.
Chisenhall reached the base safely, but briefly lost contact, while Bogaerts kept on the tag with his glove.
2B Umpire Tony Randazzo ruled Chisenhall safe and so, another challenge followed.
The four replay-umpires in New York ruled that Chisenhall was indeed out and with that, the call was overturned.
Hereafter, a line-out and strikeout ended the inning.
Boston re-took the lead in the top of the third inning when Andrew Benintendi led off with a homerun off of Trevor Bauer.
The 25-year old righthander then retired the next three batters.
In the bottom of the third, Cleveland made it a tie score again when Roberto Perez led off with a homerun!
Both Benintendi and Perez were batting ninth and both played in their first postseason-game and both homered in their first postseason-at bat.
With the score at 2-2, the Indians took over the lead moments later, as Jason Kipnis and Francisco Lindor hit back-to-back homeruns to make it a 4-2 score!
Another homerun was hit in the top of the fifth inning when Sandy Leon led off for the Red Sox with a fourbagger to narrow the deficit to 4-3.
Herafter, Benintendi lined out and Pedroia struckout, which was followed by a pitching change.
Andrew Miller took over for Bauer, but he gave up a double to Brock Holt.
The 31-year old Miller came to Cleveland on July 31 in a trade with the New York Yankees.
The Yankees got four players in return for the lefthander, who became an important ace in the bullpen for the Indians, as he was 4-0 and earned three saves, while striking out 46 batters in 29 innings.
With Holt on second base, Milller walked Mookie Betts, but he then closed the inning by striking out David Ortiz.
Cleveland added another run in the bottom of the fifth.
Roberto Perez led off with a single, then moved to second base after next batter Carlos Santana flied out to leftfield.
The advance was unexpected and Perez slid in second base, while the ball was thrown off target.
Hereafter, Boston also went to the bullpen, as Rick Porcello was replaced by Drew Pomeranz.
Moments later, it was underscored how important Perez' advance was, as he scored when Jason Kipnis singed.
It proved to be a key-moment in the game and gave the Indians an insurance run.
With two outs, (former Boston-player) Mike Napoli hit a ground-rule double.
With runners at second and third base, a force play was set up by walking José Ramirez intentionally.
The three runners were left behind, as Pomeranz struckout Lonnie Chisenhall to end the inning, but Cleveland now led 5-3.
With two outs in the top of the seventh, Andrew Miller was replaced by Bryan Shaw, who closed the inning.
But in the top of the eighth, he gave up a lead-off homerun to Brock Holt that made it a 5-4 score.
After next batter Mookie Betts popped out to Shaw, he was relieved by closer Cody Allen.
He faced 40-year old David Ortiz, who after completion of this season ends his impressive career.
'Big Papi' drilled the ball into right-centerfield for a double, which ended with a close play at second base.
A challenge followed, but the call was upheld and Ortiz was safe.
He was then replaced by pinch-runner Marco Hernandez.
Ortiz has played in all 74 postseason-games (including this one) for the Red Sox since 2003 and has now played the most in team-history.
In his final big league-season, Ortiz hit 38 homeruns and batted in 127 runs.
Hernandez advanced to third base on a grounder by Hanley Ramirez, but then stranded when Xander Bogaerts struckout.
In the top of the ninth, Cody Allen gave up a 2-out single to Andrew Benintendi.
He then closed the inning and the game on a check-swing strikeout by Dustin Pedroia, which was a correct call made by 1B Umpire Phil Cuzzi.
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Cleveland nips Boston in ALDS-opener
CLEVELAND, Ohio (USA) -
Cleveland Indians opened the best-of-five American League Division Series against Boston Red Sox on Thursday-evening (October 6) with a 5-4 victory.
In the past 14 years, the Red Sox reached the postseason eight times.
Boston is now playing in its 22nd postseason overall.
The last time that Boston played in the postseason was 2013 when it won the World Series.
Back then, the team also was managed by John Farrell.
In 2014 and 2015, Boston ended in last place in the AL East.