CLEVELAND _ Fans at Progressive Field had to wait until Tuesday morning to see it, but Mike Napoli delivered one of the loudest home runs of the season and lifted the Cleveland Indians to a 5-3 win against the Detroit Tigers.
Monday's sellout on July 4th was delayed two hours and 21 minutes due to rain. As the clock ticked over to Tuesday, the Indians and Tigers were still tied 3-3 in the bottom of the seventh inning.
With Francisco Lindor on first after a walk, Napoli crushed a Bruce Rondon offering 430 feet two-thirds of the way up the bleacher seats in left field to break the deadlock and put the Indians up 5-3. Per Statcast, Napoli's 17th home run of the season had an exit velocity of 109 mph and a launch angle of 32 degrees.
Bryan Shaw worked into and then out of trouble in the eighth, holding that two-run lead. Miguel Cabrera singled and Victor Martinez walked, bringing the go-ahead run to the plate with no outs. Shaw induced Nick Castellanos into a 4-6-3 double play and then ended the inning by getting Justin Upton to fly out to right field.
In the ninth, Cody Allen closed the door and earned his 18th save of the season. The game ended on a 4-6-3 double play, which required an Indians' review after Jose Iglesias was called safe.
Danny Salazar threw 5 2/3 innings, allowed three runs on eight hits and struck out six. Jeff Manship came on in relief and threw 1 1/3 scoreless innings.
The Indians (50-32) took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on Carlos Santana's RBI single off Tigers starter Daniel Norris that followed Napoli's double to center field. That lead was pushed to 2-0 in the third after Norris had to leave the game with an injury in favor of Dustin Molleken, making his major league debut. Rajai Davis walked, advanced to third on Jason Kipnis' double and scored on the first of two Lindor sacrifice flies to center field.
Salazar cruised for four innings until Steven Moya belted a solo home run to bring the Tigers to within 2-1. In the bottom half of the third, the Indians answered with Lindor's second sacrifice fly, again scoring Davis, who singled to right field.
The Tigers (44-39) finally tied it in the sixth. A single by Martinez was followed by Castellanos, who drove a two-run home run off Salazar to left field to knot it up 3-3.
That was prior to the calendar flipping over to Tuesday, and Napoli's two-run shot being the difference.
With the win, the Indians improved to 10-0 against the Tigers this season.
