Jayson Nix's suicide-squeeze bunt in the sixth inning helps the Indians beat the Blue Jays, 2-1, Monday night at Progressive Field.
View full sizeHome plate umpire Chad Fairchild makes his decision clear as Indians catcher Carlos Santana slides home ahead of the tag of Toronto's John Buck in the first inning Monday night. Santana scored from second on Austin Kearns' RBI single off Ricky Romero.CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Indians had gone years without a successful suicide-squeeze bunt.
Now they are making it a monthly treat.
Jayson Nix squeezed in Travis Hafner with the go-ahead run in the sixth inning as the Tribe defeated the Blue Jays, 2-1, Monday night at Progressive Field.
The Tribe (28-47) has won two in a row; Toronto (40-37) has lost six of eight.
Right-hander Jake Westbrook and four relievers held the Blue Jays scoreless after the third batter of the game. Westbrook, potential trade bait, allowed the one run on six hits in six-plus.
Joe Smith and Rafael Perez worked the seventh. Chris Perez pitched the eighth and Kerry Wood the ninth.
Wood, coming off a dominant save Sunday in Cincinnati, allowed a two-out single to Lyle Overbay before whiffing John Buck with full-count filth.
Blue Jays lefty Rocky Romero plunked Hafner to lead off the sixth. Pronk rumbled to third on Jhonny Peralta's double to left-center. Matt LaPorta, swinging at the first pitch, grounded to second. Not long after Jayson Nix stepped in, Tribe manager Manny Acta apparently decided conventional means were not going to get the job done.
With the count 0-1, Nix squared as Hafner took off. The bunt dribbled toward Romero, who fielded halfway to the plate and attempted to shovel the ball to catcher Buck. No chance.
Hafner slid in with the Tribe's second successful squeeze this season. On May 25, Luis Valbuena bunted to drive in Austin Kearns as part of a 7-3 victory over the White Sox -- Cleveland's first successful squeeze since May 17, 2003, when Omar Vizquel bunted and Matt Lawton scored against the Athletics.
Acta looked like a genius when Anderson Hernandez popped to right and Trevor Crowe popped to second.
Acta opted not to use the same play with the same two players in the eighth. Hafner singled and moved to third on Matt LaPorta's one-out double off the left-field wall. Nix never showed bunt and struck out swinging.
Hernandez grounded to second for the third out.
The Blue Jays pounced on a shaky Westbrook out of the gate.
With one out in the first, Alex Gonzalez doubled to left. Jose Bautista used an inside-out swing to drive a pitch into right-center for an RBI double.
Vernon Wells ripped a single to left, the ball hit too hard for Bautista to score. Adam Lind popped to third baseman Peralta in foul territory; Bautista bluffed, Wells alertly tagged.
Aaron Hill flied to center in a full count.
The Indians answered with one run in their half of the inning. With two outs, Carlos Santana doubled to left-center. Kearns singled to right field, where Bautista made a clean pick and strong throw home. Santana barely beat it with a head-first slide, Kearns advancing to second.
At that point, Santana had reached safely in 18 of his last 35 plate appearances. Ten of his last 13 hits were for extra bases.
The Indians entered Monday having scored 134 of their 309 runs (43 percent) with two outs. Romero limited the damage by getting Hafner to bounce to the mound.
The Tribe squandered an opportunity in the third. LaPorta and Nix had one-out singles and No. 9 batter Hernandez walked. Crowe, swinging at the first pitch, grounded into a 6-4-3 double play.
The Blue Jays entered Monday ranked first in the majors with 115 home runs. Their lineup featured six players with nine-plus homers.
The Tribe countered with just one player who had nine or more (Shin-Soo Choo, 12).