Napoli’s homer continues Indians’ mastery of Tigers 5-3

Napoli then walloped an 0-1 pitch deep into the bleachers above the left-field wall for his 17th home run, a two-run blast that gave the Indians a 5-3 lead. Lindor scored on the play.

He surrendered a leadoff homer to Steven Moya for the Tigers’ first run in the fifth, then after getting the first two outs in the sixth, allowed four straight to reach – including Castellanos’ tying homer.

The situation was flawless for a 4th of July sellout – there were fireworks, there was ‘Murica, the Indians were coming off of a great road trip, and they were preparing to face the Detroit Tigers, a team that they have absolutely owned in 2016. The Indians and starter Danny Salazar took a 3-1 lead into the sixth inning, but Salazar, who came into the game leading the American League with a 2.22 ERA, was unable to make it through the sixth.Salazar retired the first two batters of the sixth, but Victor Martinez lined a single to right field. Mike Napoli belted a two-run homer in the seventh inning to snap a tie and lift the Indians to their 10th win in as many meetings with the Tigers this season.

The Tigers had a solid month but still trail the Indians, who they can’t manage to beat. As the clock ticked over to Tuesday, the Indians and Tigers were still tied 3-3 in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Nick Castellanos and Steven Moya homered for Detroit, which had won six straight. Unfortunately, Castellanos hit one hard right at Kipnis for the 4-6-3 double play.

Detroit then put one on with one out in the ninth against Cleveland closer Cody Allen.

In the 3rd, a lead-off single from James McCann was quickly erased in a ground ball double play off the bat of Jose Iglesias.

Indians manager Terry Francona challenged the call, which was reversed after a video review, to end the game at 12:51 a.m. The first pitch was delayed by 2 hours, 21 minutes due to rain.

According to the team, Norris suffered a right oblique strain and will undergo an MRI to find out which degree on Tuesday morning.

The Tuesday game will give the Tigers another opportunity to halt the domination Cleveland has held over them this year.

Detroit already faced some adversity prior to the game when they had to place starter Jordan Zimmermann on the disabled list. Ausmus said the injury has been bothering him for two weeks and flared up during an afternoon throwing session.

Anibal Sanchez will get the start against the Indians, while pitcher Dustin Molleken has been recalled from Triple-A Toledo to fill out Detroit’s bullpen. The 31-year-old and Regina, Saskatchewan-native spent part of his last 13 professional seasons in the minors.