Danny Salazar ends on high note as Indians finish 81-80

CLEVELAND _ The Indians finished the 2015 season short of their postseason goals but with a winning record by beating the Boston Red Sox 3-1 Sunday afternoon at Progressive Field.tmpplchld Indians starting pitcher Danny Salazar (14-10) finished the year on a high note, allowing one run on four hits to go with six strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings. Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts doubled to right field in the first inning. David Ortiz then smacked a double off the wall in left-center, giving the Red Sox (78-84) an early 1-0 lead.tmpplchld The Indians (81-80) responded in the second and third innings, and Salazar cruised from there.tmpplchld “I thought it was a good finish for Danny,” said Indians manager Terry Francona. “I didn’t want him to throw 120 pitches today. But I thought he did a good job.”tmpplchld Roberto Perez doubled to left field off of Red Sox starting pitcher Rick Porcello (9-15) in the second inning and Giovanny Urshela followed with a single up the middle to tie it at 1.tmpplchld In the third, Michael Martinez led off with a double to left field and Lonnie Chisenhall singled, putting runners at the corners. Porcello then gave the Indians a 2-1 lead with an error on a pick-off attempt and Jesus Aguilar added an RBI-single to left, making it 3-1.tmpplchld Cody Allen earned his 34th save and recorded his 99th strikeout.tmpplchld The final regular season attendance was 1,388,905 _ the lowest in Progressive/Jacobs Field history. That number, though, does include several make-up doubleheaders and the loss of one home game, a rainout against Detroit that wasn’t rescheduled.tmpplchld Sunday’s win allowed the Indians to finish the season over .500 after a slow April that at one point put them in last place in the division.tmpplchld “I told our guys today that one, I really appreciate that group in there,” Francona said. “They fought so hard to make our season be a positive, because we really were having a tough time. And that takes a lot of will and it takes a lot of caring and a lot of fight. And, yeah, we didn’t do enough. But from where we were, we did some good things. And the hope is that you build off of that.”tmpplchld Said Francisco Lindor, a candidate for AL Rookie of the Year, “It hurts that we didn’t make the playoffs. But we’ve got so many years to come and hopefully we’ve got many years in the playoffs and we’ll win it one day.”tmpplchld ___tmpplchld (c)2015 Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, Ohio)tmpplchld Visit the Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, Ohio) at www.ohio.comtmpplchld Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.tmpplchld