CLEVELAND _ Imagine if that Mike Napoli shot over the Home Run Porch and into the plaza had been fair.
Perhaps the most awe-inducing moment of Game 1 of the American League Division Series went for naught. But the Indians still proved their point Thursday night against the Boston Red Sox at Progressive Field.
They were underdogs, but they were not intimidated.
They were facing one of the top AL Cy Young contenders in Red Sox right-hander Rick Porcello.
They were taking on the best lineup in baseball, a lineup that produced 878 regular-season runs, most in the American League.
They were fighting to survive seemingly devastating injuries to Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar, two of their top three starting pitchers.
Yet they punched and kept punching _ with a vengeance.
There were still anxious moments and 40-pitch relief appearances from Andrew Miller and Cody Allen before the Indians pulled out a 5-4 victory. But their attitude was never in doubt.
The Indians played as if they were tired of being overlooked, tired of being given up for dead before the ALDS even began. They played as if they were angry that their hearts had been left out of the equation in the postseason analysis.
So they struck with bolts from the blue. In the third inning, Porcello, who had allowed three home runs in his past seven starts, gave up three in a span of four batters as Roberto Perez, Jason Kipnis and Francisco Lindor went deep. Lindor joyously rounded the bases as the sellout crowd roared without prodding from the scoreboards.
The last time the Indians had hit three home runs in one inning in the postseason came in Game 3 of the 1998 ALCS against the New York Yankees when Mark Whiten, Manny Ramirez and Jim Thome managed the feat.
Even before that, the Indians flashed their trademark aggressiveness on the bases. In the second, Lonnie Chisenhall tried to stretch an RBI single into a double, but was called out after a replay review showed he apparently left the base after sliding in safely.
Indians' right-hander Trevor Bauer, starting Game 1 after a minor hamstring strain pushed ace Corey Kluber back to Friday's Game 2, pitched with the same fiery mentality the Indians showed at the plate. In his 42/3 innings, Bauer allowed home runs to Andrew Benintendi and Sandy Leon, but he didn't walk a batter and struck out six.
A dogged competitor, Bauer showed the moment was not too big for him. He bounced back from a ragged first inning, when he gave up three of his five hits, retiring the side in order in the second. Manager Terry Francona and pitching coach Mickey Callaway have to feel better about Bauer if he's needed again in a possible Game 4.
But as the Indians failed to back down to the highly respected Red Sox, an 'Any Given Hero' mentality was also at play. Perez, who led the Indians in their Central Division-clinching victory at Detroit on Sept. 26, had his fingerprints all over this one.
He ended what could have been a disastrous first inning by tagging Brock Holt out at home plate, getting the call on review after a Francona challenge. Center fielder Tyler Naquin fielded Hanley Ramirez's double and fired a relay to shortstop Lindor; Perez applied the tag to Holt's knee.
Perez started the homer barrage in the third, but a heads-up small-ball play in the fifth also proved crucial. Perez singled off the wall in left, then tagged up and chugged to second on Carlos Santana's fly to left. Perez scored on a single by Kipnis, pushing the Indians' lead to 5-3.
That Perez played such a major role continued the Tribe's trend from the regular season, when it recorded 11 walk-off wins by nine different players.
All contributed, all hustled, all refused to believe they weren't as good as the Red Sox. They chewed on their underdog role like an angry Rottweiler.
The 'Any Given Hero' team served notice it won't be a pushover. And it took only three innings of Game 1 to prove it.
