CLEVELAND (AP) Josh Tomlin baffled Blue Jays batters for nearly six innings and Andrew Miller blew them away as the Cleveland Indians edged Toronto 2-1 on Saturday to take a 2-0 lead in the AL Championship Series.
Carlos Santana homered off 20-game winner J.A. Happ and Francisco Lindor had an RBI single for the Indians, who have won five straight postseason games for the first time in their 116-year history.
An afterthought in August, Tomlin has emerged as an unlikely October star for the Indians. He allowed one run and three hits in 5 2/3 innings before Cleveland manager Terry Francona called on his bullpen led by the magnificent Miller, who is making the Blue Jays look like Little Leaguers.
The lanky left-hander struck out the side in the seventh, two more in the eighth and has 10 strikeouts in 3 2/3 innings in the series. He has not allowed a run in 16 career postseason innings.
Cody Allen struck out Edwin Encarnacion and Jose Bautista in a perfect ninth for the save, finishing a three-hitter. The Indians had never been up 2-0 in four previous ALCS trips.
After bludgeoning Texas in the AL Division Series by hitting eight homers and scoring 22 runs, Toronto has one run and 10 hits – eight singles and a pair of doubles – in two games against the Indians.
Bautista is 0 for 6 in the series with five strikeouts and in a 0-for-14 postseason tailspin. The only bat flipping Joey Bats has done is back into the rack.
The series heads north to Toronto’s raucous Rogers Centre for Game 3 on Monday with Cleveland’s Trevor Bauer slated to face Marcus Stroman.
Add A Comment