Tyler Naquin hit a go-ahead double in the 12th inning, then Yadier Molina made a baserunning blunder and got trapped for the final out Saturday to give the Cleveland Indians a 2-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals.
A day after getting 20 hits in a rout, the Indians totaled just five in winning their fourth in a row.
Naquin doubled off Alex Reyes (1-1) to drive in pinch runner Mike Freeman, who started the inning at second base. That was Cleveland’s only hit after the eighth inning.
Molina, who grounded into an inning-ending double play in the 11th with runners on first and second, began the 12th at second base as the automatic runner under MLB’s extra-inning rule.
The slow-footed Molina moved to third on a wild pitch by Brad Hand, and stayed there when Dexter Fowler grounded out.
Matt Carpenter followed with a grounder that first baseman Carlos Santana fielded near the bag. He touched the base for an out, then bobbled the ball for a moment.
Molina was partly down the line toward home, and Santana cut across the diamond with the ball. Molina put up his hands, appearing to indicate he thought Carpenter’s grounder was foul, and was easily tagged out in a rundown to complete a double play.
Cardinals starter Jack Flaherty allowed one run on three hits and two walks in five innings.
Prior to the game, St. Louis recalled RHPs Seth Elledge and Ryan Meisinger, LHP Rob Kaminsky, and 1B John Nogowski from the club’s Springfield, Missouri, alternate site camp. and optioned RHPs Daniel Ponce de Leon and Junior Fernandez and INF Max Schrock. The club also placed LHP Ricardo Sanchez (left elbow pain) on the 10-day injured list.
RHP Adam Wainwright (2-0, 2.88) is slated to make his first career start versus Cleveland Sunday, 12:20 with the pregame and the first pitch at 1:15 on KIRX.