Major League Baseball
Cleveland 3, LA Angels 1
When: 7:10 PM ET, Friday, August 28, 2015
Where: Progressive Field, Cleveland, Ohio
Temperature: 71°
Umpires: Home - Adam Hamari, 1B - Larry Vanover, 2B - Brian Knight, 3B - Victor Carapazza
Attendance: 22273

CLEVELAND -- Trevor Bauer was an emergency starter on Friday, but for most of the night he had everything under control.

Bauer, who was scheduled to start Saturday's game, got moved up to Friday, replacing scheduled starter Danny Salazar, who was scratched due to illness.

Bauer responded by pitching eight strong innings and the Cleveland Indians scored all of their runs in the seventh inning of a 3-1 victory over Anaheim Angels on Friday night at Progressive Field.

It was the Indians' third win in a row. The Angels have lost six of their last eight games.

Bauer (10-10) gave up one run and five hits with seven strikeouts and three walks in six innings. Coming into the game, Bauer was 1-5 with a 6.23 ERA in his previous eight starts.

"He gave up one run in eight innings. We'll take that every time," said Indians manager Terry Francona.

"They've got a lot of dangerous hitters in their lineup. I just tried to find the best approach for each guy, whether it's down in the zone or elevating it," said Bauer.

Right-hander Cody Allen pitched the ninth inning to pick up his 27th save. Right-hander Trevor Gott (2-2) took the loss.

Left-hander Andrew Heaney started for the Angels and pitched six scoreless innings, giving up six hits and one walk with three strikeouts.

With Anaheim leading 1-0, Gott relieved Heaney to start the seventh and the Indians used three consecutive pinch hitters to trigger a three-run rally.

Lonnie Chisenhall led off with a walk but was erased at second when Jose Ramirez reached on a fielder's choice. Abraham Almonte followed with a booming double to center field, scoring Ramirez with the tying run.

Second baseman Jason Kipnis ripped a single into center field, scoring Almonte and giving Cleveland a 2-1 lead. Gott retired the next hitter but then walked left fielder Michael Brantley, putting runners at first and second with two outs.

Left-hander Jose Alvarez relieved Gott and first baseman Carlos Santana greeted Alvarez with a ground single to center, scoring Kipnis to extend the Indians' lead to 3-1.

Heaney threw 88 pitches in his six innings, and Angels manager Mike Scioscia said he did briefly considered letting Heaney start the seventh, but decided instead to go to his bullpen.

"Andrew might have another hitter or two in him, but Trevor was fresh and has been throwing the ball well. I wanted to give him a clean inning. Unfortunately it didn't work out," Scioscia said.

The bigger problem for the Angels was their sputtering offense, which was held to just five hits, four of them singles.

"Offensively, we're not giving ourselves much room for error. That can be taxing on a pitching staff," Scioscia said.

Neither team could do anything against the opposing pitcher through the first five innings.

The Angels, who managed just one hit in a 5-0 loss in Detroit on Wednesday, were held hitless by Bauer until first baseman Albert Pujols bounced a double off the center field wall with two outs in the fourth. But Bauer struck out the next batter, left fielder David Murphy, to end the inning.

The Angels took a 1-0 lead in the fifth, scoring their only run of the game when designated hitter C.J. Cron led off with a single and scored on a two-out single by third baseman Kaleb Cowart.

Bauer gave up three hits in that fifth inning, but in the other seven he pitched he held Anaheim scoreless on two hits and got the Angels to ground into four double plays.

"The two seamer was a big pitch for me," said Bauer. "It disappeared on me the last couple of months, but tonight I got four or five strikeouts and two double plays on it."

Francona liked Bauer's approach.

"He kept the ball down and that was real good," said Francona. "You get the ball up to hitters like Pujols and (Mike) Trout, and you're going to be in trouble."

NOTES: Indians RHP Danny Salazar was scratched from his scheduled start because he was still recovering from a virus that caused him to miss two days of work earlier in the week. Salazar's next start is expected to come Monday in Toronto. ... Manager Terry Francona said Indians INF Chris Johnson (infected left hand) is likely to be activated off the disabled list on Tuesday. ... 1B Albert Pujols and OF Mike Trout are on pace to become the first Angels teammates to hit 40 home runs in the same year. The last time it was done in the majors was in 2006 by Chicago White Sox sluggers Jim Thome and Jermaine Dye.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
LA Angels   Cleveland
Andrew Heaney Player Trevor Bauer
No Decision W/L Win
6.0 IP 8.0
3 Strikeouts 7
6 Hits 5
0.00 ERA 1.12
Hitting
LA Angels   Cleveland
Erick Aybar Player Ryan Raburn
1 Hits 2
0 RBI 0
0 HR 0
1 TB 3
.333 Avg .667
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
LA Angels 5 0 6 .185 9 8 1 3 1 0
Cleveland 10 0 14 .312 20 4 3 3 0 0