Pomeranz stymies Tribe to open road trip

CLEVELAND — It has been several years and several teams since Drew Pomeranz was traded away by the Indians. On Monday, the left-hander finally made his first start against his old club and helped the Red Sox notch a 3-2 victory at Progressive Field.

Backed by a pair of home runs — including the 530th shot of David Ortiz’s career — Pomeranz spun a career-high 7 2/3 solid innings, scattering five hits. Cleveland’s only breakthroughs came courtesy of Rajai Davis, who belted a home run and contributed an RBI double in the loss. Pomeranz ended the afternoon with six strikeouts and two walks.

“This is a big win,” Boston manager John Farrell said. “To nail down that 3-2 win in here against a team that was playing very good. It started with Drew Pomeranz, but again, this was a big win.”

The loss went to Tribe righty Josh Tomlin, who held Boston off the scoreboard for five innings before surrendering homers to Ortiz and Jackie Bradley Jr. in the sixth. Tomlin was charged with three runs on seven hits in 7 2/3 innings.

“I’ve pitched against them before,” said Pomeranz. “I like pitching here, it’s a good ballpark, a good tall mound. I’m pretty sure I’m going to face all my old teams this year. I think I’m still lined up for two more the rest of the year.”

The Indians put their first two runners aboard in the ninth, but Red Sox closer Craig Kimbrel held on for his 20th save.

Boston’s one-day trip to Cleveland was a makeup of the teams’ April 7 postponement.

MOMENTS THAT MATTEREDBig Papi send-off: Ortiz hit a go-ahead homer in the sixth in his final regular-season game in Cleveland. With one on and one away, Ortiz blasted the first pitch he saw from Tomlin over the wall in right. The ball was estimated by Statcast™ to land 442 feet away — tying his longest-hit home run of the season — with an exit velocity of 106 mph. The homer moved Ortiz up to 1,733 career RBIs, which ties Honus Wagner for 22nd all-time.

Baseball has a longstanding history of disputes over numbers, and the career RBI leaderboard is one of them. Due to the uncertain nature of record keeping in the early part of the 20th century, there are some discrepancies regarding Wagner’s overall numbers. According to Elias, Wagner’s career RBI total is 1,733. The various sources used to comprise MLB.com’s entire database, which lists Wagner with 1,732 career RBIs, reflects alternative and also credible points of view.

“He’s got good stuff,” Ortiz said. “That was probably the one mistake he made in the whole game. …

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