CLEVELAND -- With the Cleveland Indians' season on the line, the player nicknamed "Mr. Smile" gave the fans at Progressive Field plenty to smile about.
With the score tied at 1 in the bottom of the fifth inning, Francisco Lindor launched a 2-out 446-foot home run to left field off of Dallas Keuchel to put the Tribe back ahead of the Houston Astros by a score of 2-1.
After Michael Brantley's sacrifice fly -- set up by a Lindor sacrifice bunt -- gave Cleveland the initial lead in the bottom of the third, Houston centerfielder George Springer evened the score with a solo home run off of Mike Clevinger in the top of the fifth. The tie score, however, wouldn't even last a full inning, with Lindor's home run -- his second of the series -- putting the Indians back ahead.
Lindor's solo shot couldn't have come at a better time for the Tribe, who find themselves facing elimination trailing the Astros 0-2 in the best-of-five series. With Game 3 and 4 (if necessary) taking place in Cleveland, the Indians will have to hold serve on their home field in order to force a winner-take-all Game 5 back in Houston on Thursday.
And if they can manage to do just that, their 3-time All-Star shortstop figures to be a big reason why.
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