BOSTON (AP) — Roberto Perez and Greg Allen homered for Cleveland during a five-run ninth inning as the Indians rallied to beat the Boston Red Sox 7-5 on Tuesday night.
Jordan Luplow added a two-run double after Cleveland tied it and and Brad Hand survived a bit of a shaky ninth for his 14th save, completing a rare come-from-behind win for the Indians on a rough night for relievers.
Nick Wittgren (2-0) got the win despite allowing two runs on three hits in the eighth, his only inning.
Ryan Brasier blew a save opportunity and a 5-2 lead in the ninth. Perez started the rally with a leadoff homer to center, Jake Bauers walked and Allen — who was hitting .091 entering the game — homered to right and tied it at 5-all.
Boston wasn't quite done imploding. Travis Lakins (0-1) took over for Brasier and hit Mike Freeman with a pitch and loaded the bases with a pair of walks, before Luplow hit a drive deep to right that bounced off the top of Mookie Betts' glove at the wall.
The wild ending spoiled strong starts by Boston's David Price and Cleveland's Zach Plesac, who carried a shutout into the sixth inning of his major league debut.
Price allowed only three hits and struck out six in six innings.
Plesac went 5 1-3 innings, allowing one run on four hits and a walk, striking out two.
HIGHER GROUND
The light rain that fell in the first picked up and the grounds crew replaced the tarp over the infield after the top of the second. The PA system chimed in with "Gimme Shelter" by the Rolling Stones as poncho-clad fans scrambled for cover in the concourse. The game was delayed one hour and nine minutes by rain.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Indians: Optioned LHP Josh Smith to Triple-A Columbus to clear roster space for Plesac. . RHP Danny Salazar (shoulder surgery) threw live batting practice Tuesday in Goodyear, Ariz. . RHP Mike Clevinger (shoulder) is scheduled to throw a simulated game Saturday in Goodyear. . OF Tyler Naquin (left calf strain) continued a rehab assignment with Triple-A Columbus.
Red Sox: RHP Nathan Eovaldi (elbow) is scheduled to throw a simulated game in New York on Thursday or Friday.
UP NEXT
Indians: RHP Shane Bieber (3-2, 3.11 ERA) gets the start in the series finale, which was moved up to a 6 p.m. start to alleviate some of the congestion with the Bruins hosting the St. Louis Blues in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals. Bieber has 25 strikeouts in his last two starts.
Red Sox: RHP Ryan Weber (1-0, 1.29) picked up his first career victory as a starter Thursday at Toronto, holding the Blue Jays to one run on three hits in six innings.
