Tomlin, Tribe shut down Yankees

Associated Press

NEW YORK

In a difficult season for the Cleveland Indians, the return of Josh Tomlin has become a bright spot.

Tomlin had his second straight impressive start since returning from shoulder surgery, Cody Allen worked out of his own jam in the ninth inning Thursday night and the Indians held on for a 3-2 victory over the New York Yankees.

“It’s fun to talk about him,” manager Terry Francona said. “We’ve talked about, just in the short period he’s been here, how much we’re pulling for him.”

Tomlin (1-1) only allowed Alex Rodriguez’s 680th career home run leading off the fourth and a double to Chase Headley in seven deliberate innings. The right-hander has been touched for just three runs and seven hits in 13 1/3 innings since coming back from his second major operation since 2012.

“Obviously you don’t want to have the injuries,” Tomlin said. “Sometimes it gets in your head but for the most part when you’re out there and you’re throwing the ball pretty well, it really doesn’t creep into your head.”

Allen took over in the ninth with the score 3-1 and gave up a leadoff single to A-Rod, who surprised most everyone in the ballpark and stole second.

Several players took exception with umpire Dan Iassogna’s strike zone throughout the night, right into the ninth: After Brian McCann was called out on strikes and had a brief conversation with Iassogna, manager Joe Girardi raced from the dugout and was instantly ejected. He proceeded to dig a line in the dirt near home plate and yell at Iassogna.

“I ejected him for leaving his position to argue balls and strikes,” Iassogna told a pool reporter.

Carlos Beltran then singled in a run and rookie Greg Bird walked, with the crowd of 36,129 finally making some noise. But Headley grounded to first for the second out and Allen got Didi Gregorius to fly to left field for his 24th save.

“I hurt myself a little bit, getting behind in the count, left some pitches over the plate, but they hit some balls at some guys,” said.

Lonnie Chisenhall hit an RBI double, and Michael Brantley — still limited to designated hitter because of a sore shoulder — and Jose Ramirez had RBI singles off Ivan Nova (5-5).

Losers of four of five coming in, the Indians got help from their new-look outfield of converted infielders Ramirez and Chisenhall and newcomer Abraham Almonte. They took two of three from the AL East leaders last week in Cleveland, and won the opener of this four-game series.

Almonte made a running, leaping catch at the wall in right-center in the sixth on a drive by Brett Gardner. Chisenhall made a diving catch of Carlos Beltran’s sinking liner to open the seventh.

Feeling “better and better every day,” Chisenhall said of the position where he’s made only 14 starts. “I’m still going to new ballparks ... just learning that, learning the pitchers and reading the hitters’ swings out there.”