Indians score twice in 8th to beat Twins

Associated Press

CLEVELAND

The Cleveland Indians saved their best for last — again.

Matt LaPorta and Carlos Santana hit RBI doubles in the eighth inning and the Indians rallied past the Minnesota Twins 3-2 Friday night to win for the 14th time in their last at-bat at home this season.

“We want to keep people coming back,” starter Justin Masterson said after yet another dramatic win sent a crowd of 31,364 home happy.

Closer Chris Perez would prefer Cleveland hitters not wait so long to score.

“I wish they’d do it in the first or second inning, but this is a lot of fun,” Perez said after working a perfect ninth for his 24th save in 27 chances.

Cleveland trailed 2-1 when Travis Hafner singled with one out in the eighth off Twins starter Carl Pavano. Left-hander Glen Perkins (4-3) relieved, turning the switch-hitting Santana around to the right side, where he drove a booming double to right-center field to score pinch-runner Michael Brantley with the tying run.

With two outs, LaPorta’s blooper dropped in front of diving left fielder Ben Revere to make it 3-2.

“I thought it had a chance to drop, but he’s pretty fast out there so I didn’t know,” said LaPorta, adding that Cleveland hitters feed off each other’s success late in games.

“You want to step up and guys are doing whatever they can to help us win,” LaPorta said.

It was Cleveland’s 28th comeback win and AL-leading 19th overall in its final time at bat this season.

“These guys are resilient, not shaken by any situation,” manager Manny Acta said. “Santana’s double was huge.”

Rafael Perez (5-2) got the final out in the eighth for the win as the second-place Indians remained three games behind Detroit in the AL Central.

Tsuyoshi Nishioka singled home both runs for Minnesota, which has lost 10 of 12.

Twins designated hitter Jim Thome remained two homers shy of 600. He went 0 for 2 with a walk, his 1,709th to pass Hall of Famer Mel Ott for eighth all-time. Thome also is eighth on the home run list.

Masterson started for the second time in four nights, allowing five hits and two runs over 72/3 innings. On Tuesday, he threw only 35 pitches over two innings before a lengthy rain delay forced him out of a game that Cleveland eventually won in 14 innings over Detroit.

“It worked out OK,” he said. “It didn’t feel any different.”