Santana slugs Tribe to win

Associated Press

CLEVELAND

Carlos Santana’s return to Cleveland continued to be a big hit Saturday.

Santana connected for a two-run homer in the eighth inning and Cleveland rallied past Seattle 5-4 Saturday, the Mariners’ sixth straight loss.

Santana tagged Connor Sadzeck (0-1) for his fifth home run of the season.

The switch-hitting first baseman played for the Indians from 2010-17 before signing with Philadelphia prior to last year. Santana was traded to Seattle in December before being dealt to the Indians as part of a three-team swap that included Tampa Bay.

Santana is tied for the team lead in homers and is batting .321 with 19 RBIs, also both team highs.

“Everyone knows this is my sweet home,” he said. “I love Cleveland. I’ve played here a long time. I’m excited to be back.”

Tim Beckham hit a leadoff home run to break a 3-all tie in the eighth, Seattle’s fourth solo homer of the game.

Edwin Encarnacion, Daniel Vogelbach and Dylan Moore also connected for Seattle, which leads the AL with 65 home runs.

Tyler Olson (1-0) retired the final hitter in the eighth for the win. Brad Hand walked Encarnacion to begin the ninth, then struck out the next three hitters for his 10th save.

Carlos Carrasco allowed all four home runs, a career high for the right-hander, who struck out nine in 72/3 innings. The six homers occurred in misty conditions throughout the game.

Francisco Lindor singled to lead off the eighth against Roenis Elias and took second on Leonys Martin’s sacrifice. Jose Ramirez struck out and Seattle manager Scott Servais went to Sadzeck, a rookie right-hander.

Santana quickly foiled that strategy and the Indians won for the second straight game in their final at-bat.

“He certainly didn’t throw it to where he was hoping to get,” Servais said. “Connor has been on a really good run throwing the ball well. He made a mistake today and we paid for it.”

Said Indians manager Terry Francona: “He killed that ball.”

“I know some balls went out of the ballpark today, but it was heavy,” he said.

Cleveland played its second game since Corey Kluber broke his right arm after being hit by a line drive. Shane Bieber allowed one runs in 72/3 innings Friday.

Mariners starter Mike Leake allowed three runs in six innings. Seattle is 5-15 since starting the season with a 13-2 record.

Encarnacion played the last two seasons with Cleveland before being dealt to Seattle in the Santana trade.

“We did what we do,” Servais said. “We hit some home runs. Unfortunately they were solo homers.”

Lindor hit a solo homer in the third, Jake Bauers and Roberto Perez also had RBIs for Cleveland.

Martin was removed from in the ninth with tightness in his hamstring. Jordan Luplow finished the game in center field.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Indians: RHP Danny Salazar has been shut down from throwing at extended spring training. He had progressed to throwing bullpen sessions after having shoulder surgery in July. Salazar missed all of last season.

ON THE MOVE

The Indians acquired infielder Adam Rosales from Minnesota for cash and assigned him to Triple-A Columbus. He appeared in 13 games with Cleveland last season.

The Mariners acquired reliever Austin Adams from Washington for minor league pitcher Nick Wells and cash. Adams, who turns 28 on Sunday and pitched in one game for the Nationals this year, was optioned to Triple-A Tacoma.