CLEVELAND � The Indians found some come-from-behind magic with a five-run inning but didn't have enough it Saturday night at Progressive Field, falling to the Toronto Blue Jays 6-5 on the heels of back-to-back walk-off wins.
Josh Tomlin's stretch of poor starts continued. He put the Indians in an early 5-0 hole and, after his teammates rallied to tie the game, promptly gave up the decisive home run.
After allowing seven earned runs in two of his three previous starts, Tomlin (11-7, 4.39 ERA) was hit for six earned runs on nine hits in 4? innings. He also struck out five. In his last four starts, Tomlin has an unsightly 10.02 ERA.
The Blue Jays (70-53) took a 2-0 lead in the second inning. Darwin Barney singled and Ryan Goins doubled, putting two runners in scoring position. Devon Travis hit a soft grounder to third base. Trying to make a play, Jose Ramirez attempted to bare-handed the ball but it bounced away. Barney easily scored, and with the ball trickling away behind Ramirez, Goins turned for home and scored as well.
Tomlin, always a pitcher susceptible to home runs, gave up two in the third inning. First, Russell Martin hit his second home run of the series, a solo shot. Melvin Upton later clubbed a two-run home run to center field, making it 5-0.
After consecutive nights of wild comebacks and walk-off victories, the Indians (70-51) found some magic in the fourth against starting pitcher Aaron Sanchez. A walk, an error on Travis and a single by Francisco Lindor loaded the bases with nobody out. Mike Napoli swung for the seats but had to settle for a sacrifice fly to center field that scored Carlos Santana.
Ramirez, proving to be among the best hitters in baseball with runners in scoring position, singled up the middle to cut the Blue Jays' lead to 5-2. Then, the big one: Lonnie Chisenhall turned on a Sanchez fastball, sending it to several rows deep in right field for a game-tying three-run home run, capping the five-run inning.
But, it was short lived. To open the fifth inning, Edwin Encarnacion crushed a Tomlin pitch three-fourths of the way up the bleachers in left field, making it 6-5.
This time, the Indians didn't have an answer. A 1-2-3 seventh inning was followed with an eighth inning that ended on a 4-6-3 double play off the bat of Napoli.
In the ninth, facing Roberto Osuna for the second consecutive night, the Indians couldn't come up with the big hit this time. Ramirez flew out, Chisenhall struck out and Tyler Naquin, the hero from the previous two games, grounded out to end it.
