CLEVELAND _ For much of this season, the Indians' offense has been searching for more power. And like a row of popcorn kernels heating up over a flame simultaneously, it's seemingly all coming at once.
Pop. Pop. Pop.
The Indians trailed for much of the day on Saturday, but a trio of home runs was enough to overtake the New York Yankees in an 8-4 win at Progressive Field.
With the win, the Indians improved to 4-1 during this key stretch in their schedule that included three games with the Minnesota Twins before this series.
The Indians entered the bottom of the fourth down 2-0 against former Indians ace CC Sabathia. After a Carlos Santana single and a Jordan Luplow double, Jose Ramirez brought home a run with a sacrifice fly to cut the deficit in half. Roberto Perez followed with a double off the top of the wall in left-center field that missed being a home run by, at most, a few inches. The play was reviewed but confirmed the call on the field. Perez instead had to settle for a game-tying RBI double.
Then came the power surge.
An inning later, Oscar Mercado gave the Indians the lead with an opposite-field, two-run home run to right-center, putting the Indians on top 4-2.
Perez _ who acted as the designated hitter _ came to the plate again in the sixth and this time decided not to leave any doubt. Facing Yankees reliever Jonathan Holder, Perez launched a mammoth, 447-foot home run to the Home Run Porch to make it a 6-2 game. It marked his 11th home run of the season, which sets a career single-season high and is one shy of Santana's 12 for the team lead. Two batters later, Kevin Plawecki followed with a solo home run, also the Home Run Porch in left field, to put the Indians on top 7-2.
The Yankees chipped away against Oliver Perez and Adam Cimber in the seventh, but it wasn't enough. Gleyber Torres doubled home a run and Gio Urshela added a sacrifice fly to center field.
Nick Wittgren pitched a scoreless eighth _ before Plawecki tacked on an insurance run via a sacrifice fly in the bottom half of the inning _ and Brad Hand secured his 20th save of the season in the ninth.
Indians starting pitcher Adam Plutko allowed two runs on three hits to go with four strikeouts in six innings of work.
