Cleveland Indians: Tremendous pitching leads Tribe past Cardinals in extras

Despite a lackluster offensive performance, the Cleveland Indians were able to hold off the St. Louis Cardinals and clinch a 2-1,12 inning victory.

The Cleveland Indians clinched a series victory over the St. Louis Cardinals Saturday as they rode their pitching staff to a 2-1, 12 inning victory.

For the second straight day, the Indians struck first blood as in the top of the first Jose Ramirez slugged a solo home run off Cardinals ace Jack Flaherty to give Cleveland an early 1-0 lead.

From then on, Flaherty shutdown the Indians as he went onto pitch five innings in which he allowed just one run, walked two and struck out five.

For Indians right-hander Carlos Carrasco, one run would be all he needed in his six innings of work as he put together a bounce back outing that saw him walk two, strikeout six and not surrender a run lowering his season ERA from 4.50 to 3.75.

The Indians bullpen would not be able to help Carrasco earn the victory however as in the bottom of the seventh, Matt Carpenter lined a game-tying single off James Karinchak to even the score at one.

Neither team would score in the eighth or ninth, leading to extra innings.

The game would remain tied at one until the top of the 12th, where Tyler Naquin delivered an RBI double to put the Indians on top 2-1. Brad Hand would notch his 10th save in the bottom half of the inning as the Indians closed out their fourth straight win.

With the win, the Indians are now 21-13 on the season and hold a half-game lead for first place in the AL Central. Meanwhile, the Cardinals dropped to 11-13 and are 3.5 games behind the Cubs for the NL Central lead.

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On Deck: The Indians will send Aaron Civale to the mound in the series finale with the Cardinals Sunday. .Civale is 3-3 so far this season with a 3.15 ERA in six starts. He’ll match up with 38-year old right-hander Adam Wainwright who is 2-0 with a 2.88 ERA so far this season. First pitch is set for 2:15 p.m. EST at Busch Stadium.