Toronto, ON (Sports Network) – Asdrubal Cabrera hit a two-run homer and Jason Donald added a solo shot, as the Cleveland Indians held on for a 5-4 win over the Toronto Blue Jays in the rubber match of a three-game series at Rogers Centre.
Cabrera finished 2-for-5 and scored twice and Carlos Santana knocked in a run for Cleveland, which took the final two games of the series after dropping the opener and has split its last six overall.
Jeanmar Gomez (2-0), who was making only his second big league start, worked five effective innings, allowing two runs on five hits. The 22-year-old hurler’s starting debut came back on June 18 when he pitched seven scoreless innings to beat Detroit. Chris Perez worked a scoreless ninth inning to record his 12th save of the season.
Yunel Escobar, Aaron Hill and Jose Bautista each hit a solo homer for the Blue Jays, who have dropped two straight after winning six of the previous seven. Hill finished with two hits and drove in a pair.
Jesse Litsch (1-5) labored through four-plus innings by surrendering six hits, four runs and two walks while striking out a batter and was tagged with the loss.
In the bottom of the ninth and the Blue Jays trailing 5-4, Perez came on for the ninth and served up a leadoff single to Travis Snider, who advanced to second on DeWayne Wise’s sacrifice bunt. However, Perez settled down to get Escobar to line out to left and fanned Bautista to end the game.
Cleveland jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first. Trevor Crowe walked to lead off the inning before Cabrera hit a two-run homer that just cleared the right-center field wall.
Hill’s solo shot to left in the second and run-scoring base hit in the third made it a 2-2 game.
The Indians restored their two-run advantage in the fifth. A double, bunt single and walk loaded the bases with nobody out. Brian Tallet replaced Litsch and walked Santana to force in a run. Matt LaPorta then bounced into a 6-4-3 double play to force in another for a 4-2 game.
Donald ripped a homer in the sixth to give the Tribe a three-run cushion, but Escobar and Bautista hit back-to-back homers in the seventh to trim the Toronto deficit to 5-4.
Rafael Perez and Joe Smith combined to work a scoreless eighth.
Gomez struck out two and walked a pair in his outing…Cleveland has now won six of its 10 meetings with the Jays this season….The Indians finished 1- for-5 with runners in scoring position and stranded six, while Toronto went 1- for-6 with RISP and left eight.