BOSTON _ Certainly this couldn't have been one of the worst offenses in the American League.
This particular bunch of Indians looked rather fearsome Wednesday night at Fenway Park, with the Red Sox powerless to stop their onslaught at the plate.
Cleveland extended the momentum from its comeback victory Tuesday into the three-game series finale. Boston was overwhelmed in a 14-9 shelling, limping its way to New York and facing a daunting task in the form of a four-game weekend series with the Yankees.
The Indians were blanked for the first seven innings on Tuesday and never stopped slugging from there. Cleveland scored in each of its next nine trips to the plate, including multiple runs in six innings. Most of the 34,824 fans on hand were on their way to watch the Bruins play Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals by the time Hector Velazquez worked a 1-2-3 frame in the 8th.
Being pounded by New York could almost be expected and excused, but the Indians came into Wednesday last in the American League in hits and slugging percentage. Cleveland was one of three teams in the league yet to hit 60 home runs or crack the .700 mark in OPS. A few more nights like this one and those marks will be a distant memory, as the Indians piled up nine hits for extra bases.
Ryan Weber was unable to replicate the magic he conjured while picking up his first career victory as a starter on Thursday at Toronto. Cleveland tagged the side-winding right-hander for eight hits and seven earned runs in just four innings, leaving him in line for defeat when he eventually made his exit. Josh Taylor, Colten Brewer and Velazquez heaped on the misery from there.
Carlos Santana's RBI triple to deep right-center in the first was his club's first three-base hit of the season and made it 1-0. A wild pitch allowed Santana to score and doubled the lead. Kevin Plawecki's RBI single in the second put the Indians on the board again.
Cleveland kicked again in the third, this time on an RBI single to center by Jake Bauers and Greg Allen's two-run triple to the corner in right. Santana's solo homer down the left-field line in the fourth was the equivalent of the extra point against Weber, who gave way to Taylor for his big league debut in the fifth.
Doubles off the Green Monster by Jose Ramirez and Plawecki scuffed Taylor for an earned run and Ramirez's two-run double to deep right roughed up Brewer in the sixth. Lindor's RBI single through the left side and a three-run double to left by Santana inflated an earned-run average that already stood at 5.23 for Velazquez.
The Red Sox were able to keep pace early. Mookie Betts launched a solo homer to left in the first and Boston added two more in the second to make it 3-3. Brock Holt lashed an RBI double down the line in right and Andrew Benintendi lined an RBI double to deep right.
Boston had an answer again in the fourth, cracking three straight two-out hits. Jackie Bradley Jr. drove a solo home run above the Green Monster, Christian Vazquez singled to center and Benintendi found the Red Sox bullpen in right-center with a two-run blast. It was a 7-6 game and Boston seemed to have hope of capturing a ninth straight series finale.
The Red Sox didn't score again until the eighth, and those runs were mere consolation by that time. Xander Bogaerts crushed a two-run homer to left-center and Christian Vazquez followed a Bradley double with one of his own, smacking a drive off the wall in left-center. Boston loaded the bases with one out in the ninth before eventually succumbing on an Eduardo Nunez infield pop and a Michael Chavis fielder's choice.
