Cleveland Indians: Napoli powers Tribe to win; Carrasco struggles

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. The Cleveland Indians got a little of everything in their 7-6 win over the Boston Red Sox.

Both starters struggled as The Cleveland Indians (1-1) had to rally behind a Mike Napoli solo home run in the seventh to lift them to 7-6 victory over the Boston Red Sox (1-1) on Wednesday night. Carlos Carrasco was on a roll until the sixth inning when he allowed back-to-back home runs to David Ortiz and Hanley Ramirez. Napoli’s heroics in the seventh help the Indians grab their first victory of the year.

Tyler Naquin got his first career start in center field and also collected his first career hit with a single in the second inning. But it was his misplay of a flyball in the sixth that led to a Chris Young double which would eventually become the tying run. It was ruled a double, but it was a play Naquin should have made.

Later in the inning, Mookie Betts grounded to third as Juan Uribe chose to throw to first, never looking back Brock Holt on third. The Indians got the out at first but Holt’s run gave the Red Sox their first and only lead of the game.

In the seventh, Napoli took a borderline pitch that was called in his favor, and later in the at-bat hammered a split-finger pitch that hung over the plate into the left-field stands off of  Junichi Tazawa (0-1). Napoli–who won a World Series ring with the Red Sox in 2013–got a chance at redemption against one of the teams that felt his best day were behind him.

Zach McAllister (1-0) pitched an efficient 1 2/3 innings of baseball to pick up the win as Cody Allen came in for the save. Ortiz made a bid to keep the game alive in the ninth with a deep fly ball to left that Jose Ramirez needed a snowcone catch on the run to preserve the victory.

The Indians go to Sox starter Clay Buchholz early as he lasted just four innings, allowing five runs on six hits before leaving the game. The game was held up 32 minutes due to some scattered showers in the area.

Just over 10,000 people attended Wednesday’s game, less than 30% full capacity for Progressive Field.