CLEVELAND _ Three home runs in the first inning and five total. A prodigious blast that nearly hit the scoreboard. An ace performance. Friday night had just about everything for the home sellout crowd in the Indians' 10-2 rout of the New York Yankees.
It was the third sellout at Progressive Field this season and the second this week. Fans among the 34,045 who wanted to see some power got their money's worth and then some.
The Indians led off the bottom of the first inning with back-to-back home runs against Yankees starter Chad Green (1-2, 7.04 ERA). Carlos Santana belted his 20th home run of the season to right field, which already bests his 2015 season total, and Jason Kipnis followed with his 13th of the year to center field. It marked the first time the Indians began a game with back-to-back home runs since Kosuke Fukudome and Kipnis did so on Sept. 22, 2011.
The Indians weren't done in the first. With two outs and Francisco Lindor on first base, Lonnie Chisenhall drove a two-run shot to right field to put the Indians on top, 4-0.
In the third, Mike Napoli hit one of the longest home runs in Progressive Field history. With Green still on the mound, Napoli crushed a two-run home run to the top of the bleacher seats in left field. It bounced once and hit the bottom of the scoreboard and nearly hit John Adams, the famous Indians drummer, who sits atop the bleachers in the middle section. Per Statcast, it measured 460 feet and is the longest home run by an Indians hitter this season.
Along with Jim Thome's 511-foot home run to Eagle Avenue in 1999 and Mark McGwire's awe-inspiring shot off the scoreboard in 1997, Napoli's homer Friday night is one of the most impressive in park history.
Lindor missed a home run in the fifth by a few feet but settled for an RBI-double, and Napoli added an RBI-single to make it 8-0. In the sixth, Yan Gomes grounded out to score Juan Uribe, who doubled.
In the seventh inning, a final home run, as Kipnis added his second of the night, this one to right field. The five home runs as a team mark the most for the Indians (52-34) in a game this season.
Recent All-Star selection Corey Kluber (9-8, 3.61 ERA) allowed one run on five hits in eight innings to go with eight strikeouts. Yankees (42-44) catcher Brian McCann hit a solo home run for Kluber's only blemish. In the ninth, Joe Colon made his major league debut, allowing one run and striking out one.
