Lindor, red-hot Indians top slumping Angels

Francisco Lindor belted a three-run homer, and Jason Kipnis and Carlos Santana also went deep as the host Cleveland Indians posted a 7-2 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday. Orange County native Adam Plutko (4-2) tossed 5 1/3 strong innings against his favorite childhood team for the Indians, who have won 15 of their last 20 games overall and 14 of their last 15 home contests versus Los Angeles.

Justin Upton had an RBI single and drove in two runs for the Angels, who have lost seven of their last nine games. Los Angeles starter Felix Pena was carried off the field with a right knee sprain in the second inning after coming down awkwardly on first base while reeling in a high underhand toss from Albert Pujols. Pena immediately screamed in pain and remained on the ground for a few minutes before Pujols and a trainer carried him to the dugout.

Trevor Cahill (3-7) replaced Pena and worked into the fifth inning without surrendering a hit before Franmil Reyes lined a one-out double into the left field corner. Kipnis followed by depositing a 1-0 sinker from Cahill over the wall in right-center field to give the Indians a 2-0 lead. Kipnis' homer was his 10th of the season and third in his last six games.

Cahill hit Kevin Plawecki with a pitch before being replaced by Justin Anderson, who allowed a single to Tyler Naquin before Lindor sent a 1-0 fastball over the wall in center field to stake Cleveland to a 5-0 lead. The home run appeared to fire up Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield, who was in attendance and shown on the big screen celebrating while wearing a Lindor jersey.

Plutko allowed one run on five hits and struck out four to snap a six-game winless stretch. Upton greeted reliever Nick Goody in the sixth with a sacrifice fly to plate David Fletcher. Upton's broken-bat single up the middle trimmed Cleveland's lead to 5-2 with two outs in the eighth inning.

Santana answered in the bottom of the frame with a towering blast to right-center field for his team-leading 24th homer of the season. Reyes' sacrifice fly scored Jose Ramirez later in the inning to cap the scoring.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)