For the second consecutive night, Carlos Santana crushed a three-run home run to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates.
This time, he left no doubt about whether it was fair or foul.
Santana broke a scoreless tie by smacking a 401-foot shot over the Clemente Wall in the sixth inning, and another Santana — right fielder Domingo — hit a bases-clearing double in the eighth as the Cleveland Indians beat the Pirates, 6-1, on Wednesday night at PNC Park.
A night earlier, Carlos Santana’s 442-foot homer in the 10th inning sailed so close to the left-field foul pole it required a video review. That home run stood, propelling the Indians to a 6-3 victory. This one came on a 3-2 cutter by Dovydas Neverauskas that Santana took for a ride.
“It’s poor execution of a pitch,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “Obviously, we’re a pitch away and right now, with the fact that we’re not scoring a ton of runs, you know there is that fine line.”
The Pirates (4-16) got a strong start from left-hander Steven Brault, who overcame a 29-pitch first inning for his longest outing of the season. He hadn’t thrown more than 37 pitches or three innings but gave up two hits and a walk with three strikeouts on 80 pitches in five innings.
Where Brault was effective, Cleveland right-hander Aaron Civale was efficient in throwing a complete game, allowing five hits on 109 pitches with six strikeouts and no walks. He allowed his only run in the ninth.
“I thought the cutter and the changeup are what kept us off balance,” Shelton said. “The changeup was really good. He used it to both right handers and left handers. I mean, he used it throughout the game and paired the cutter off it and used his fastball when he had to and he did a nice job.”
Brault didn’t allow a hit until the fifth, when Cleveland designated hitter Franmil Reyes lined one past Colin Moran at first base and former Pirate Jordan Luplow followed with a singled past second baseman Adam Frazier.
But Brault, who took a comebacker off the backside from Kevin Newman in training camp, was ready when Domingo Santana lined one back to the mound. Brault caught the ball, turned to first and doubled off Luplow. Brault then got Roberto Perez to ground out to end the inning.
After five scoreless innings, the Indians got on the board in the sixth against Dovydas Neverauskas. Cesar Hernandez doubled, and Jose Ramirez walked before Neverauskas struck out Francisco Lindor looking. But Santana drove a 3-2 cutter 401 feet into the right-field seats to give the Indians a 3-0 lead.
Tyler Bashlor, acquired in a trade from the New York Mets on Aug. 2, made his Pirates debut in the eighth. After walking Ramirez, he struck out Lindor and Carlos Santana but walked Reyes and Tyler Naquin to load the bases. After a mound visit by pitching coach Oscar Marin, Domingo Santana slapped a hit down the third-base line into the left-field corner to score all three for a 6-0 lead.
The Pirates got on the board in the ninth, when Cole Tucker pinch-hit for Jacob Stallings and hit a leadoff double to center, advanced to third on Kevin Newman’s single to right and scored on Josh Bell’s sacrifice fly to right. It was another late rally for the Pirates that came far too late.
“We have to have more consistent at bats. We have to be more aggressive on pitches in our zones,” Shelton said. “I think early in games we’re not as aggressive as we should be.”
