Hafner's slam lifts Tribe

CLEVELAND (AP) — Travis Hafner hit a grand slam in the bottom of the ninth inning to cap the Cleveland’s five-run rally and give the Indians a 5-4 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Thursday night.

Hafner hit the first pitch from Luis Perez (1-2) deep into the right-field seats for Cleveland’s second walkoff slam of the season. Carlos Santana also did it to beat Detroit 9-5 on April 29.

Hafner’s 12th career slam made a winner of Tony Sipp (4-1), who yielded Jose Bautista’s 29th homer in the eighth to give Toronto what seemed like a comfortable 4-0 lead.

But Frank Francisco loaded the bases without getting an out. Perez came on and struck out Michael Brantley before Asdrubal Cabrera lined an RBI single to left.

That set the stage for Hafner, who earlier this year hit a three-run homer to beat Seattle 5-4 on May 13.

Indians rookie Lonnie Chisenhall left in the second inning after getting hit in the right side of his face near the ear flap on his batting helmet by an 0-1 pitch from Toronto starter Carlos Villanueva. The Indians announced that Chisenhall, their No. 1 draft pick in 2008, had a facial bruise.

Toronto scored three runs in four innings off Zach McAllister, who was making his major league debut.

Meanwhile, Villanueva allowed six hits in his ninth start since being moved into the Blue Jays’ rotation on May 23. He was looking to improve to 5-1 as a starter after going 8-0 in his final 84 relief appearances since a loss on Aug. 17, 2009.

The right-hander struck out seven and walked two. Both walks came in the first inning, when Villanueva got out of a bases-loaded jam by getting Orlando Cabrera on a routine fly ball to right field.

Nine of the Blue Jays’ 11 hits came from the bottom five hitters in their order as Toronto lost for eighth time in 11 games.

Tags: sports, baseball, indians, hafner