Amed Rosario’s walk-off single lifts Cleveland Indians to 2-1 win and two-game sweep of Chicago Cubs – cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Amed Rosario’s two-out bases-loaded single in the 10th inning Wednesday gave the Cleveland Indians a 2-1 walk-off win against the Chicago Cubs at Progressive Field.

Rosario smacked a 1-1 pitch from Chicago’s Keegan Thompson into right field to drive in the winning run. It was his third career walk-off plate appearance and first with the Indians.

With Josh Naylor, Cleveland’s automatic runner, on second base, Jordan Luplow walked on a nine-pitch at-bat. Both runners moved up on a sacrifice bunt by René Rivera and the Cubs intentionally walked pinch-hitter Harold Ramirez. César Hernández popped out to second before Rosario delivered.

Indians manager Terry Francona said he initially thought about taking the bunt play off because of how close Chicago first baseman Anthony Rizzo was playing, but Rivera’s bunt was so good that it didn’t matter.

“That was a nice piece of bunting right there because in some ways it’s almost a lost art,” Francona said. “Both our catchers are good bunters and it helped win us a ballgame.”

Rosario, who doubled home Cleveland’s only other run of the game in the sixth, hit .179 in April, but has heated up since the calendar flipped to May, posting a .296 batting average with both of his three-hit games coming this month. He was mobbed by teammates as he rounded first base.

“It feels really, really good not only for me, but also for the team because we won,” Rosario said through interpreter Agustin Rivero. “That’s what matters.”

It was Cleveland’s second walk-off win and first since Luplow delivered a two-run home run against Minnesota on April 26.

The Indians, winners of eight of their last nine games and 12 of their last 15 are a half-game behind the AL Central leading White Sox, who host Minnesota this evening. It was Cleveland’s first sweep of the Cubs since taking a two-game series at Wrigley Field in May of 2018, and the first ever at home.

The Indians moved to 10-7 at Progressive Field and have 13 comeback wins, thanks again to a solid effort by their bullpen.

James Karinchak held the Cubs scoreless in the 10th, striking out Eric Sogard with two runners on base after a walk to Jason Heyward. Emmanuel Clase gave up a base hit to Wilson Contreras in the ninth and intentionally walked Anthony Rizzo before shattering the bats of Javier Baez and Nick Martini on ground outs to escape.

After striking Sogard out, Karinchak pumped his arms in celebration as he walked off the mound.

“It was a great battle, that’s a great hitter,” Karinchak said. “The guy’s been doing it for a long time. I think it was seven, maybe eight, nine pitches, just kept fighting and I finally got him, man, and I was revved up.”

Rookie left-hander Sam Hentges, getting his first big-league start after following an opener in his last outing, tossed 4 2/3 scoreless innings and struck out six while walking four. Hentges said he felt confident with his breaking pitches throughout the game.

“Early in the game I was throwing them for strikes, which enabled me to expand from there,” Hentges said. “Just the key to those two pitches is having the ability to throw them for strikes and go from there.”

But Cubs starter Zach Davies matched Hentges, allowing a run on five hits in 5 1/3 frames with four strikeouts and a pair of walks. Cleveland’s offense stranded five baserunners and was 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position against Davies.

Chicago broke through with two out in the sixth on back-to-back doubles by Ildemaro Vargas and Joc Pederson. Vargas ripped a 2-2 fastball from rookie Nick Sandlin into the right field corner and Pederson greeted Bryan Shaw with an RBI line drive to left.

Vargas’ hit was the first allowed by Sandlin in 5 1/3 big league innings. Shaw allowed an inherited runner to score for the first time in seven chances.

Cleveland wasted no time evening the score in the bottom of the inning as Hernández doubled off Davies and scored on Amed Rosario’s RBI double on the next pitch. After Rosario moved to third on a ground out by José Ramírez, Cubs lefty reliever Justin Steele struck out Eddie Rosario and intentionally walked Franmil Reyes before whiffing Naylor to neutralize the threat.

With a pair of doubles, Hernández collected two of Cleveland’s six hits. The Indians are 11-3 since Hernández moved to the leadoff spot in manager Terry Francona’s batting order on April 26.