CLEVELAND — Carlos Santana homered
and drove in three runs in his second career game, powering Fausto
Carmona and the Cleveland Indians past the Washington Nationals 7-1
Saturday night.
Carmona (5-5) gave up three hits and
one run in his second complete game of the season to win for the first
time in six starts. He struck out seven and did not walk a batter as
Cleveland won its fourth in a row for the second time this year. The
Indians also did it April 15-18. The Nationals fell to 4-14 on the road
since May 13.
Santana showed that Washington is not
the only team with a rookie phenom. A night before heralded pitcher
Stephen Strasburg will make his first road start, Cleveland's rookie
catcher got his first career hit.
The 24-year-old switch-hitter had a
two-run double off former Indians farmhand J.D. Martin (0-2), in a
four-run second inning that put Cleveland ahead 5-0.
He then hit his first homer on a 1-1
pitch leading off the sixth, a drive into the right-field seats that
made it 6-0.
Veteran players played a common
practical joke on their teammate when he returned to the dugout: They
completely ignored him. Santana quietly sat down – then was mobbed by
players pounding his back in congratulations.
Cleveland scored an unearned run
without a hit in the first. Shin-Soo Choo was hit by a pitch, went to
third on a throwing error by second baseman Adam Kennedy, and scored on a
sacrifice fly by Travis Hafner.
Luis Valbuena had a sacrifice fly and
Choo a run-scoring single in the second. Santana then hit a sharp
grounder past first baseman Adam Dunn for the first two RBIs of his
career.
The teams wore throwback jerseys from
each city's first World Series championships, the 1920 Indians and 1924
Nationals, also called the Senators. Cleveland's uniforms sported the
black armband that was worn 90 years ago after Cleveland's Ray Chapman
died one day after being hit by a pitch by Carl Mays of the New York
Yankees on Aug. 16.
On Sunday, fans will get a glimpse of
the future: Santana vs. Strasburg.
Strasburg struck out 14 over seven
innings in his debut Tuesday night against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Santana, acquired in a July 2008
trade from the Los Angeles Dodgers for veteran Casey Blake, hit .316
with 13 homers and 51 RBIs in 57 games for Triple-A Columbus before his
callup Friday.
Carmona (5-5) gave up two harmless
singles over the first seven innings – getting a double play immediately
after each hit. Ryan Zimmerman ruined the right-hander's shutout bid
with his 13th homer to open the eighth.
Russell Branyan homered in the bottom
half to make it 7-1.
Carmona had lost each of his previous
four starts.
The right-hander struck out seven –
including four straight over the fourth and fifth innings.
Martin, a first-round supplemental
draft pick by Cleveland in 2001, gave up six earned runs and nine hits
over 7 2-3 innings in his first career interleague start. He struck out
three without a walk.
NOTES: Nationals C Ivan Rodriguez, 3
for 9 with two homers in his career against Carmona, wasn't in the
lineup after starting three of four games and going 5 for 11. He was
activated Tuesday after missing 14 games with a strained back. Rodriguez
caught Strasburg's debut and will catch him again Sunday. … Cleveland
signed INF Aaron Fields, its 42nd-round draft pick. He is the son of
the team's hitting coordinator Bruce Fields, a former big league
catcher.