Kipnis helps Indians pull away from O's late
Jason Kipnis belted two homers, drove in a career-high six runs and scored three times as the host Cleveland Indians posted a 14-7 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday.
Carlos Santana had three RBIs, and Francisco Lindor, Carlos Gonzalez, Jose Ramirez and Leonys Martin each had a run-scoring hit for the Indians, who established a season high in runs for the second straight game. Cleveland, which also notched a season-best 14 hits, cruised to a 9-0 romp over the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday.
Trey Mancini launched a three-run homer, and Rio Ruiz belted a two-run shot for the Orioles, who have lost seven of their last eight games overall and 12 of their last 15 versus the Indians.
Cleveland halved a 5-1 deficit after Gonzalez and Ramirez each had RBI singles in the third inning. Kipnis then deposited a 3-1 sinker from Gabriel Ynoa (0-1) over the wall in right field to take a 6-5 lead in the fourth. Kipnis went deep twice in a game for the fifth time in his career and first since May 14, 2017.
After Stevie Wilkerson's two-run double off the wall in left field gave Baltimore a 7-6 lead in the fifth inning, the Indians answered with two runs of their own in the sixth. Martin scored on Kipnis' double-play ball before Santana's hard single up the middle handcuffed second baseman Hanser Alberto.
Martin had an RBI single in the seventh, and Kipnis' fielder's choice plated a pair after the Orioles botched a rundown at first base to give Cleveland an 11-7 advantage. Santana ripped a two-run double to left field to cap the scoring in the five-run inning.
A.J. Cole (1-1) allowed two hits in 1 1/3 innings to pick up the win in relief of starter Trevor Bauer, who surrendered seven earned runs across five innings for the second time in three starts.
After Kipnis' first-inning blast accounted for the majors-high 90th homer surrendered by the Orioles, Baltimore answered with a power display of its own.
Ruiz sent a 3-2 fastball from Bauer over the wall in center field in the second inning, and Mancini added on in the third, sending a 1-1 fastball into the bleachers in right-center to give Orioles a 5-1 lead.
--Field Level Media
