Indians hang on to defeat Angels and complete sweep

Home runs by Carlos Santana and Francisco Lindor lifted the Cleveland Indians to an early lead, and the bullpen held off the Los Angeles Angels for a 4-3 victory Wednesday night in Anaheim, Calif. Santana's 34th homer and Lindor's 31st in the first two innings off Angels starter Dillon Peters (3-3) helped Cleveland to a 4-0 lead. Indians starter Adam Plutko managed to go 4 1/3 innings before six relievers combined to limit the Angels to one hit over the final 4 2/3 innings and complete the three-game sweep.

Carlos Carrasco (5-7) got the win after pitching 1 2/3 innings with two strikeouts and two walks. Carrasco, Tyler Clippard (one-plus innings) and Nick Goody (one inning) got the Indians to the ninth. In the ninth, Indians manager Terry Francona used three pitchers -- each of whom recorded one out. Nick Wittgren and Oliver Perez got the first two outs before Adam Cimber (first save) finished it off by striking out Albert Pujols on three pitches. Because Oakland also won Wednesday, the Indians remained one-half game behind the A's for the second wild-card spot in the American League.

Cleveland took an early lead against Peters, Santana going the other way with a home run to right field in the first inning for a 1-0 lead. In the second inning, Jason Kipnis led off with a walk and scored on a double by Kevin Plawecki. One out later, Lindor hit a two-run homer, his second of the series, for a 4-0 Indians lead.

The Angels broke through against Plutko in the bottom of the second, getting an RBI single by David Fletcher, scoring Matt Thaiss, who doubled earlier in the inning. The Angels narrowed the deficit to 4-2 in the fifth inning on Shohei Ohtani's solo homer, his 18th of the season, knocking Plutko out of the game. Plutko gave up two runs on six hits and two walks in 4 1/3 innings. He struck out three.

And in the eighth, the Angels made it a one-run game on Kole Calhoun's homer off Clippard, cutting the Indians' lead to 4-3. It was the only hit the Angels got against six Indians relievers. Peters was charged with four runs on five hits in three innings. He walked three and struck out one.

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