This game ran for 5:14 and sixteen innings on a chilly Opening Day in Cleveland. It started out promisingly for the home team as Jack Hannahan’s three-run homer off Ricky Romero in the second gave the Tribe a 4-1 lead that they carried into the ninth. Justin Masterson was excellent, allowing just two hits (one a homer by Jose Bautista), one walk, and fanning ten. He might have had a shot at a complete game, but in the eighth he made nineteen pitches, including five necessitated after JP Arencibia reached on a strikeout/wild pitch. Chris Perez came on for the ninth and in five batters Toronto had tied it on Edwin Encarnacion’s two-run double.
Both teams’ best extra innings chance came in the twelfth. Toronto loaded the bases with two outs, but Rajai Davis flied out to the warning track in left. Cleveland loaded the bases with one out, but Asdrubal Cabrera grounded the first pitch he saw into a double play. In the sixteenth, Jairo Ascenio was in his third inning of work and walked Brett Lawrie, made a throwing error trying to get the lead runner on Omar Vizquel’s grounder (Vizquel, age 45, was in the game at first base as a utility man), and then was taken deep by Arencibia. It was the first disappointment of what would be a very long season for the Indians.