CLEVELAND — Francisco Lindor and Lonnie Chisenhall had three hits each and Mike Napoli hit a two-run homer to lead the Cleveland Indians to a 6-5 win over the Houston Astros on Wednesday night at Progressive Field.
Carlos Carrasco (11-7) pitched into the eighth inning to get the win. Cody Allen worked the ninth to pick up his 25th save of the season.
The loss snapped Houston’s three-game winning streak.
Trailing 3-2, the Indians took the lead for good in the fifth inning when they sent eight men to the plate in a four-run rally. All of the runs were charged to Houston starter Doug Fister (12-11), who never made it out of the fifth.
Fister pitched 4 1/3 innings, allowing six runs and nine hits with two strikeouts and three walks.
Lindor had three singles and got hit by a pitch. It’s his major league-leading 23rd three-hit game of the season. That’s the most three-hit games in a season by an Indians player since 1936 when Earl Averill had 29 and Hal Trosky had 24.
Carrasco gave up four runs and nine hits with five strikeouts and one walk.
After giving up a one-out double to Evan Gattis in the eighth, Carrasco was removed from the game. Andrew Miller relieved Carrasco and gave up a two-run homer to Yuli Gurriel, cutting the Cleveland lead to 6-5. But Miller pitched out of further trouble and Allen closed out the win in the ninth.
The Indians took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second on an RBI single by Roberto Perez, but the lead didn’t last very long. George Springer led off the third with a double for the Astros and scored on a single by Jose Altuve.
Altuve had hits in his first two at-bats to raise his road batting average to .396, which is 70 points higher than anyone else in the American League.
Cleveland took another lead in the third. Lindor led off by getting hit by a pitch from Fister and went to second on a single by Jose Ramirez before scoring on Chisenhall’s single, giving Cleveland a 2-1 lead.
But again Carrasco gave up runs after his team scored. In the top of the fourth while pitching to Gurriel, Carrasco got a bug in his eye. He took a knee behind the mound and needed a few minutes to get the bug out.
Carrasco’s first two pitches after the bug became hits. Gurriel singled and Colby Rasmus belted a two-run homer over the right field wall to give Houston a 3-2 lead.
The Indians regained the lead with a four-run fifth. Lindor led off with a single and he scored on a booming home run deep into the left field bleachers by Napoli, giving the Indians a 4-3 lead.
The drive was estimated at 433 feet. It’s Napoli’s 31st homer of the year, which is a career high. Napoli’s previous career high was 30 in 2011 with Texas.
Fister retired the next batter, Ramirez, on a groundout but that was followed by consecutive singles by Chisenhall and Rajai Davis, putting runners at first and second with one out and sending Fister to the showers.
Kevin Chapman relieved Fister. Chapman only threw three pitches, but one was hit into the gap in left-center field by Brandon Guyer, pinch hitting for Tyler Naquin. It went as a double, scoring Chisenhall and Davis and extending the Cleveland lead to 6-3.
NOTES: Astros SS Carlos Correa has an inflamed left shoulder and has been sent back to Houston to get it examined. Rookie 3B Alex Bregman, who was drafted as a shortstop but has played mostly third base since joining the Astros, started at short in place of Correa. … C Evan Gattis has 16 home runs at his position this season. That ties the Astros’ record for most homers by a catcher, done previously by Juan Castro in 2013 and John Bateman in 1966. … Indians C Yan Gomes started his first game at catcher on an injury rehab with Triple-A Columbus on Wednesday. Gomes had been used as a DH in his other rehab games. He has been on the disabled list since July 18 with a separated right shoulder. … RHP Mike Clevinger will come out of the bullpen for a second consecutive start on Saturday versus Minnesota. Clevinger is starting in place of slumping RHP Josh Tomlin.