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Indians use big inning to rally past Blue Jays

CLEVELAND -- The Blue Jays posted a six-run inning for the second straight game on Sunday, but the Tribe had an impressive comeback in them this time around. After a six-run outburst of their own, the Indians kept piling on the offense en route to a 10-7 victory over Toronto at Progressive Field.

With the win, Cleveland salvaged a split of the four-game set with the Blue Jays.

"That's a great team effort," Indians outfielder Michael Brantley said. "The passion that we showed, the never-give-up attitude, that's what we need to continue to do. We have a great day off tomorrow, but at the same time, we want to come back on Tuesday with that same energy, that same passion and make sure we're ready to play from pitch one."

Highlighted by a grand slam from rookie second baseman Devon Travis, who now has seven shots on the season, Toronto capitalized on a pair of defensive miscues in the fourth inning to post a six-spot against Tribe righty Trevor Bauer. That was not enough support for Blue Jays starter Drew Hutchison, who gave up six runs on eight hits in 4 1/3 innings.

Both Hutchison and Bauer (six runs on seven hits in 4 1/3 innings) took no-decisions.

"Our offense, once again, goes out there and puts up a lot of runs and I go out there and give it back and give it away like that," Hutchison said. "It's not good, and I killed our bullpen even more. Not being able to get through the fifth with a four-run lead is unacceptable."

Indians second baseman Jason Kipnis belted a home run in the third inning, Brandon Moss added a sac fly in the fourth and then Cleveland broke things open with a six-run outpouring in the fifth. Ryan Raburn (two-run double), Brantley (two-run single) and Jose Ramirez (RBI double) each had run-scoring hits in the Tribe's decisive frame.

Russell Martin added a solo home run in the ninth for the Blue Jays.

Video: TOR@CLE: Martin belts a solo dinger in the 9th

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED

Six runs: A pair of defensive lapses opened the door for a six-run outburst by the Blue Jays in the fourth inning. With runners on the corners and one out, first baseman Carlos Santana gloved a grounder from Ryan Goins and ran across the diamond to try to force Kevin Pillar into a rundown. Santana did not relay the ball to third base and Pillar slid back safely, loading the bases. Next, Bauer fielded a chopper from Ezequiel Carrera and looked home, but had no shot at retiring Pillar at the plate. Carrera reached safely, too, for an RBI single. Travis then followed with a grand slam to push the Indians behind, 6-1. More >

Video: TOR@CLE: Pillar slides into third to beat the tag

"Up until he didn't give the ball up, he did it absolutely textbook," Indians manager Terry Francona said of Santana's play. "He got the ball at first, he thought about going to second and he realized the runner at third was wandering off and he couldn't turn two. So, he ran it back and he stayed on the home-plate side. He did it textbook, he just didn't give it up, so then the textbook went away."

None the richer: However, the Blue Jays weren't the only team to bat around in the game. Just one inning later, in the bottom of the fifth, the Indians saw the Blue Jays' 10-batter, six-run inning and raised them one of their own. It all started with the ball boy picking up a live ball off the bat of Lonnie Chisenhall for a ground-rule double. After a Michael Bourn walk, consecutive hits by Kipnis, Ramirez and Brantley, a Santana bases-loaded walk and a two-run double by Raburn, the Indians had about erased about their disastrous fourth inning and held an 8-6 lead. More >

Video: TOR@CLE: Ballboy mistakenly fields fair ball in 5th

Devon fire: The fourth-inning grand slam by Travis was the first of his career, but it seemed like nothing new for the 24-year-old rookie second baseman. The home run was already his seventh of the young season, and he raised his season OPS to a whopping 1.019. Not only is that the best mark among American League rookies, but the 10th-best among all Major League hitters.

Video: TOR@CLE: Travis belts his first career grand slam

"I don't think there's a silver lining today," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. "The kid's good. What are you going to say, he's been doing it all year. It's not like he's on a little hot streak. He's been doing it all year. I think he's a pretty special find for us."

Leading the way: Kipnis had gone 267 at-bats between home runs prior to belting one on Wednesday. With his two-out shot off Hutchison in the third inning, Kipnis has now connected for three homers in his past five games. The second baseman finished Sunday 3-for-4 with two RBIs and three runs scoring, continuing to provide Cleveland with a spark as the team's new leadoff hitter. More >

Video: TOR@CLE: Kipnis homers, collects four hits in win

"April was rough. Things weren't falling," Kipnis said. "I had some good at-bats, where guys were making good catches, things like that. In May, they're starting to fall for me now. I'm also putting good swings on and not rolling over stuff and we're having better at-bats now."

QUOTABLE
"I threw him a changeup first pitch trying to slow him down. I figured I would try to throw a fastball up in the zone in and try to break back for a weak ground ball and popup. That guy is going to be a good hitter. Going into the game, I looked at him as the most dangerous guy in the lineup. He hit a good pitch and that is going to happen." -- Bauer, on allowing Travis' grand slam

"You'd like to chalk that up to one of those baseball days that you can't put a finger on, but its been happening way too often. That's the problem. We've got to iron some things out and get better, no question about that."-- Gibbons, on the Blue Jays allowing six runs in the fifth inning

WHAT'S NEXT
Blue Jays: Toronto heads back home after a 10-game road trip for the first of three consecutive divisional series, this one against the Yankees at 7:07 p.m. ET. Toronto took two out of three in New York in the season opening series. R.A. Dickey (0-3, 5.23 ERA) takes the mound for Toronto, coming off an encouraging start in Boston, in which he tied a season-high in innings pitched (seven) and didn't issue a walk for the first time this year.

Indians: Following an off-day on Monday, Cleveland will head to Kauffman Stadium for a three-game series against Kansas City at 8:10 p.m. ET. In the opener on Tuesday, right-hander Danny Salazar (3-0, 3.32 ERA) will aim to continue his solid start. The starter beat the Royals in his last outing on Wednesday after limiting them to four runs in six innings and ending with seven strikeouts against no walks.

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Jordan Bastian is a reporter for MLB.com. Read his blog, Major League Bastian, and follow him on Twitter @MLBastian. August Fagerstrom is an associate reporter for MLB.com.
Read More: Ryan Raburn, Devon Travis, Drew Hutchison, Michael Brantley, Jason Kipnis, Trevor Bauer