Papi rocks Cleveland with moonshot homer

CLEVELAND — The Indians’ infielders gathered around the edge of the grass between first and second while right-hander Jeff Manship warmed up in the eighth. Red Sox slugger David Ortiz joined the Tribe huddle, a situation that is normally off-limits to the opposing team.

But Ortiz was welcomed into the private party as he enjoyed every aspect of his final regular-season game at Progressive Field. Earlier in the game, Ortiz homered as Boston edged Cleveland, 3-2, in Monday’s makeup contest.

“Every win matters,” Ortiz said. “We are in August right now and we have to go for it. Any game you win, that’s what matters to us.”

Tribe starter Josh Tomlin had spun five scoreless frames, maintaining a 1-0 lead when Ortiz came up for his third at-bat in the sixth with one on and one away. Ortiz wasted no time taking advantage of Tomlin’s mistake, lifting a cutter over the wall in right field to give his team a 2-1 advantage.

According to Statcast™, the ball landed 442 feet away from home plate and had an exit velocity of 106 mph. It tied his longest-hit home run of the season. The blast was his 27th of the season and first on the road since June 2 in Baltimore.

.@davidortiz is saying “so long” to Cleveland in style. https://t.co/5EVpd1lAjt …

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