Struggling Santana helps Indians beat O’s in 13th

Associated Press

BALTIMORE

Carlos Santana doubled in two runs with two outs in the 13th inning, and the Cleveland Indians beat the Baltimore Orioles, 8-7, Thursday night for their fourth straight victory.

Ryan Rayburn and Lonnie Chisenhall homered for the Indians, whose winning streak ties a season high. Three of Cleveland’s last four games have gone extra innings, including a 13-inning win over Detroit on Wednesday night.

The Indians became the first team since the 2010 Angels to play two straight games of at least 13 innings, and it was the first time since 2003 that Cleveland played two consecutive 13-inning games.

After two hits and a walk loaded the bases in the 13th, Santana came to plate against Troy Patton (0-1) with a .148 batting average. He pulled a sharp grounder inside the third-base line, only his third hit in 32 at-bats with two outs and runners on.

Josh Outman (4-0) pitched two scoreless innings and Scott Atchison got three outs for his first save, despite giving up a solo home run to Nick Markakis.

Ryan Flaherty also homered for Baltimore and Adam Jones had three hits.

Orioles third baseman Manny Machado left after 11 innings with right groin stiffness. He didn’t begin play this season until May 1 after undergoing offseason knee surgery.

Baltimore used a five-run sixth inning to erase a 3-0 deficit, and after the Indians pulled even in the seventh the Orioles scored the go-ahead run in the bottom half without benefit of a hit.

Shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera fumbled Machado’s sharp grounder and Jones followed with a bouncer to third. Santana threw wildly to second base trying to start a double play, leaving runners on second and third with one out. After Mark Lowe issued an intentional walk to Chris Davis, Nelson Cruz hit a sacrifice fly to make it 6-5.

Chisenhall answered in the eighth with a pinch-hit homer off Darren O’Day to make it 6-all. It was Chisenhall’s second home run of the season, both in the last two games.

Much earlier, Indians starter Justin Masterson induced three double plays over the first five innings while being pressed into action on three days’ rest.

In the Baltimore sixth, after Steve Clevenger and J.J. Hardy delivered two-out RBI singles, Flaherty hit a 2-1 pitch over the 25-foot scoreboard in right field to make it 5-3.

The advantage vanished in the seventh. With one out, Flaherty fumbled a potential double-play grounder to second base, getting an out at first that resulted in an RBI for David Murphy. Mike Aviles then chased Orioles starter Wei-Yin Chen with a game-tying single.