CLEVELAND — Surrounded by his infielders, Rick Porcello stared at the ground in disbelief.
In a dizzying span of nine pitches, the Cleveland Indians had rocked him for three home runs in the third inning.
Boston's ace never quite recovered.
The Red Sox didn't either.
Francisco Lindor's homer capped Cleveland's three-homer rampage off the 22-game winner, and the Indians held on for a 5-4 win on Thursday night in their AL Division Series opener.
Lindor, Jason Kipnis and Robert Perez went deep in the third off Porcello, who lasted 4 1/3 innings in his shortest outing this year as the Indians landed the first shot in the best-of-5 series against David Ortiz and the AL East champions.