TORONTO _ The Indians struggled to hit starting pitcher Aaron Sanchez and failed to close out a four-game sweep, falling to the Toronto Blue Jays 5-1 in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series on Tuesday at Rogers Centre.
The loss extends the series to Game 5, in which Indians rookie Ryan Merritt will start for the Indians against Blue Jays Game 1 starter Marco Estrada.
Corey Kluber allowed two runs on four hits in five innings in his first career start on three days of rest, which became a necessity when Trevor Bauer was unable to pitch with his bleeding finger in Game 3. Kluber also struck out seven and is slated to pitch a potential Game 7, again on short rest.
Josh Donaldson gave the Blue Jays their first lead of the ALCS in the third inning, belting a solo home run to left field on a low curveball by Kluber to make it 1-0. It was the first earned run Kluber had allowed in the postseason after 131/3 scoreless innings in his first two starts.
In the fourth, Kluber ran into trouble, walking both Troy Tulowitzki and Russell Martin to begin the inning. Former Indians outfielder Ezequiel Carrera made the walks costly by blooping a single into center field to put the Blue Jays ahead 2-0. Kluber exited after 89 pitches.
"I felt fine," Kluber said. "I didn't really feel like it physically affected me at all. I made a mistake to Donaldson, but other than that, I felt fine."
The Indians cut the lead in half in the fifth on Roberto Perez's double to left-center field, which scored Coco Crisp, who had walked. They nearly tied it when Carlos Santana grounded a ball hard to the left side, but Donaldson made a diving play at third to likely keep a run off the board.
Sanchez (1-0, 1.50) allowed a run on two hits and two walks and struck out five in six innings.
The Blue Jays added on in the seventh against Bryan Shaw. Ryan Goins led off with a single. Jose Bautista tapped a ball down the third-base line that was fielded by Shaw, who then threw it over Mike Napoli's head for an error. The Indians intentionally walked Donaldson to load the bases with nobody out. Edwin Encarnacion followed by lining a ball up the middle for a two-run single to put the Blue Jays ahead 4-1.
"Either way, it's not the most desirable situation," said Indians manager Terry Francona of walking Donaldson. "Early in the game, you certainly wouldn't do something like that. But in a game where we can't give up another run, we have two hits, that seemed to me to put us in the best position. It didn't work."
Carrera again hurt the Indians in the eighth, ripping a triple to right field. Kevin Pillar also hit a line drive to right field that was caught by a diving Brandon Guyer. It was a highlight-reel catch but also enough to score Carrera and make it 5-1.
"They hit better than us, they pitched better than us, they played defense better than us today," Indians shortstop Francisco Lindor said. "So they deserved to win. (Wednesday) we've got another game and we've got to focus on Estrada and trying to be ourselves."
For the first time this postseason, the Indians will try to come back from a loss, still with a ticket to the World Series on the line. And it'll be with a rookie with one career start _ Merritt _ taking the mound on a national stage and in a hostile environment.
"He's thrown the ball well for us every time he's picked it up," Cody Allen said of Merritt. "We're looking forward to going out there and watching him compete (Wednesday), but the plan is for us to try to get a lead and score more runs than they do."
