Carlos Santana’s clutch home run leads Indians past Pirates in extras: Recap and MVP

Carlos Santana played hero Tuesday as his clutch three-run shot helped lead the Cleveland Indians past the Pirates in the series opener.

The Cleveland Indians picked up their fourth straight victory Tuesday as Carlos Santana‘s breakout night at the plate guided the Tribe to a 6-3 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first game of a three-game set at PNC Park.

Pittsburgh would strike first blood as Colin Moran hit an RBI single off of Carlos Carrasco in the bottom of the first to give the Pirates an early 1-0 lead.

The lead would be short-lived as in the top of the third, Santana delivered a two-run single off Pirate right-hander JT Brubaker and Franmil Reyes delivered a sac-fly to put the Tribe on top 3-1.

In the bottom of the fifth, Pittsburgh was able to tie the game as former all-star Josh Bell delivered a two-run double to even the score at 3-3 and knock Carrasco out of the game after just 4.1 innings of work.

From there, the game became a battle of the bullpens. After Brubaker left the game for Pittsburgh, the Indians’ offense was shut down as Cleveland was held off the scoreboard by a Pirates bullpen combination of Derek Holland, Chris Stratton, Nik Turley and Richard Rodriguez and Keone Kela for six innings.

Luckily, for Cleveland, their bullpen was able to counter as Oliver Perez, Cam Hill, Phil Maton, James Karinchak and Nick Wittgren combined for 5.2 scoreless innings to force extra innings.

In the top of the 10th, Cleveland’s offense finally delivered as with two men on and one out, Carlos Santana ripped a clutch three-run home run down the left field line to put the Indians on top 6-3.

The Indians were able to finish off the Pirates in the bottom of the 10th as Brad Hand locked down his sixth save of the season to clinch a 6-3 victory.

With the win, the Indians improved to 14-9 on the season while Pittsburgh fell to 4-15 with the loss.

MVP, Carlos Santana: Carlos Santana was undoubtedly the game’s MVP Tuesday as he drove in five of Cleveland’s six runs with a two-run double and a game-winning three-run homer in extras.

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On Deck: The Indians will send right-hander Aaron Civale to the mound Wednesday when they square off with the Pirates for the second game of their three-game set in Pittsburgh. Civale enters the start 2-3 on the year with an ERA of 3.60. Pittsburgh will counter with Steven Brault. The long-time reliever will be serving as an opener for the Pirates and likely won’t throw more than three innings. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. EST at PNC Park.