ARLINGTON, Texas _ On Opening Day, it was the Indians' $60-million man and the fifth outfielder on the roster who led a late charge and started 2017 on a good note.
In part thanks to the most expensive free agent in franchise history and an outfielder who made the roster because someone else is on the disabled list, the Indians pulled off a four-run comeback to beat the Texas Rangers, 8-5, on Opening Day on Monday at Globe Like Park.
The Indians trailed 5-1 after the Rangers knocked around ace Corey Kluber early. After chipping away, the Indians displayed some of their 2016 magic to kick off 2017.
Still down a run in the eighth inning, Edwin Encarnacion _ the Indians' prized free-agent signee this offseason _ crushed a solo home run to right field off Rangers reliever Matt Bush to tie the game at 5.
The Indians then pulled away in the ninth off reliever Sam Dyson. With Tyler Naquin on second, Abraham Almonte _ on the roster because Lonnie Chisenhall is on the disabled list _ singled up the middle to give the Indians their first lead of the night. Carlos Santana followed with an RBI double to right-center and Michael Brantley, in his return to major-league action after roughly 11 months, singled Santana home to bring in another insurance run and put the Indians up, 8-5.
That comeback erased a rough outing for Kluber in which he allowed all of his five earned runs on three home runs.
Rangers second baseman Rougned Odor got the best of Kluber, who allowed a few pitches to catch too much of the plate. Odor slugged home runs in his first two at-bats of the season _ a solo shot in the second and a three-run blast in the third _ to put the Rangers up, 5-1.
Between Odor's two home runs, Carlos Gomez crushed a solo shot to the second deck, only the 20th time a hitter has reached that level in Globe Life Park history.
Kluber lasted six innings, only being hurt by those three long balls. He allowed six hits, walked three and struck out six. But the hitters covered for him, and Dan Otero, Boone Logan, Andrew Miller (1-0) and Cody Allen (save) closed out the game.
Jose Ramirez started the comeback in the fourth, cutting the deficit in half with a two-run home run off Rangers ace Yu Darvish after Encarnacion's single to left field.
That set up the Indians' golden scoring opportunity in the fifth inning that went for naught and nearly cost them the game. Rookie Yandy Diaz reached on an error and Darvish momentarily lost the strike zone, walking Almonte and Santana to load the bases with nobody out and Francisco Lindor at the plate.
But Darvish got ahead 0-2 on the Indians star shortstop, and Lindor tapped a ball back to Darvish for a 1-2-3 double play. Brantley then softly grounded out to first base to end the inning with the Rangers still leading, 5-3.
The Indians' work on the base paths continued to whittle away at the Rangers' lead. Diaz doubled to right field with one out in the seventh for the first hit of his major league career. He advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a strikeout, as Almonte swung and missed but was able to reach first when the ball got away from catcher Jonathan Lucroy.
That led to the final three innings in which the Indians scored five runs and the bullpen delivered a scoreless performance.
