Chris Perez stops Boston rally in ninth to earn his 13th save in Tribe victory. It was Perez's eight straight save conversion.
Indians catcher Carlos Santana sits on a cart with his left leg in an air cast as he is taken off the field after a home-plate collision with Boston's Ryan Kalish in the seventh inning of the Indians' 6-5 win at Fenway Park on Monday. BOSTON, Mass. -- Catcher Carlos Santana, the flower of the Indians' farm system, was carted off the field at Fenway Park in the seventh inning Monday night following a collision at home plate that left him with an injury to his left leg.
The injury overshadowed the Indians' 6-5 victory over the Red Sox.
With one out and Ryan Kalish on second base, pinch-hitter Daniel Nava sent a single to right field. Kalish tried to score, and arrived at the plate as Shin-Soo Choo's throw from right field. Santana tried to block him off the plate with his left leg and was knocked head over heels.
Plate umpire Mike DiMuro called Kalish out when he saw that Santana kept possession of the ball. It was obvious Santana was in a great deal of pain. There was no official word from the Indians on the extent of the injury.
Santana's leg was fitted with an orange air cast and he was driven off the field to a standing ovation from the sold-out crowd at Fenway. Santana was tended to by one doctor and several trainers and medical personnel were working on him. The Indians trainers were Ricky Jameyson and Jeff Desjardins. Head trainer Lonnie Soloff was not on the trip.
Manager Manny Acta and several of Santana's teammates offered him comfort.
It is the fourth time a member of the Indians has been carted off the field this season following an injury. Asdrubal Cabrera, David Huff and coaching assistant Ruben Niebla were the others.
Fenway Park has been a house of horrors for Fausto Carmona. There were the consecutive blown saves in August of 2006. Then there was the beating in Game 6 of the ALCS in 2007. His regular-season record at Fenway before last night was 0-2 with a 40.50 ERA.
Carmona (11-8, 3.78) exorcised those demons. In seven innings, he held the Red Sox to two runs, one earned, on eight hits. He struck out five, walked one and left with a 6-2 lead after seven innings.
Boston made it 6-5 on Adrian Beltre's three-run homer off Frank Herrmann in the eighth. It was Beltre's second homer in as many at-bats -- his leadoff homer in the seventh off Carmona made it 6-2 -- and his 19th of the season. Beltre has three homers against the Tribe this year.
Rafael Perez started the seventh and gave up one-out singles to Jed Lowrie and David Ortiz. Herrmann relieved and retired Victor Martinez before giving up Beltre's homer.
Chris Perez came on for the ninth to record his 13th save. It was his third save in as many days. He is 13-for-16 in save situations, having converted eight straight.
The Indians took a 6-1 lead with three runs in the sixth. Choo's bases-loaded, two-run single was the big hit. Boston brought in left-hander Dustin Richardson to face Choo with two out and he lined the first pitch he saw into right field.
John Lackey (10-6, 4.78) put himself into trouble as he walked Jordan Brown, gave up a single to Shelley Duncan and walked Jayson Nix to load the bases with no one out. Jason Donald struck out, but Trevor Crowe drew a bases-loaded walk to make it 4-1. Manny Delcarmen replaced Lackey and retired Asdrubal Cabrera on a foul pop to third.
That's when Choo delivered.
It was a big night for Duncan, who had a career-high four hits.
The Indians took a 2-1 lead on Duncan's two-run double off the top of the Green Monster with two out in the fourth. Matt LaPorta singled and Brown collected his first big-league hit with a double past first to get Duncan to the plate.
After Lackey walked Nix, Donald singled through the left side. Third base coach Steve Smith, with two out, waved Duncan home, but Kalish threw him out.
In the third, Boston's Marco Scutaro hit a leadoff double. He went to third on a groundout and tried to score on Kevin Cash's fly ball to left. Duncan made the catch and erased Scutaro at the plate with good throw.
Boston took a 1-0 lead in the second. David Ortiz hit a leadoff single and went to third when LaPorta let Victor Martinez's double play grounder go through his legs. Adrian Beltre scored Ortiz with a long sacrifice fly to right field. Choo made a leaping catch near the warning track and uncorked a great throw back to first to keep Martinez from advancing. Carmona walked Kalish, but struck out the next two batters to end the threat.
Lackey allowed six runs on nine hits in 5 1/3 innings. He struck out seven, walked five and threw 107 pitches. Lackey came into the game with a 6-6 record against the Tribe.