Guardians score twice in ninth to sweep Angels

Travis Bazzana drove in the go-ahead run in the ninth inning with a sacrifice fly and Steven Kwan had two hits, including a ground-rule double that drove in the tying run, as the Cleveland Guardians rallied from a 3-0 deficit to complete a three-game series sweep of the Los Angeles Angels with a 4-3 victory on Wednesday afternoon in Anaheim, Calif.

Bazzana went 2-for-3 with a run scored and two RBIs, Brayan Rocchio had two hits and two runs and Nathaniel Lowe and Jose Ramirez also had two hits for Cleveland, which matched a season best with its seventh straight victory.

Hunter Gaddis (2-3) picked up the win in relief and Erik Sabrowski pitched around a leadoff single to Josh Lowe in the bottom of the ninth to garner his first save as the Guardians defeated the Angels for the eighth straight time dating back to last season.

Zach Neto went 1-for-3 with a RBI and a run scored for Los Angeles, which lost its fourth straight game. Ryan Watson (1-1) suffered the loss, allowing two runs on three hits and a walk in one inning of relief.

Cleveland won despite a wild outing by starter Joey Cantillo who allowed just two hits over six innings but walked a career-high seven batters, hit another batter and also committed a throwing error to allow a run to score. He gave up three runs (two earned).

Los Angeles scored an unearned run in the first inning to take a 1-0 lead. Neto led off with a single and scored one out later when Vaughn Grissom dribbled a single up the third base line that Cantillo fielded and then threw wildly down the right field line allowing Neto to score.

The Angels scored two runs without getting a hit to extend the lead to 3-0 in the second inning. Cantillo walked Josh Lowe, Denzer Guzman and Bryce Teodosio to load the bases with one out and then hit Neto in the knee to force in a run. Mike Trout then drove in Guzman with a sacrifice fly.

Cleveland cut the lead to 3-1 in the fifth when Rocchio blooped a double into left-center, advanced to third on a groundout by Kwan and scored on a sacrifice fly by Bazzana.

The Guardians made it 3-2 in the eighth when Bazzana led off with a bunt single, advanced to second on a one-out walk to Jo Adell and scored on a single by Nathaniel Lowe.

Cleveland, which rallied from a 5-0 deficit to win 8-6 on Tuesday night, then took its first lead in the ninth. Chase DeLauter started the rally with a one-out pinch-hit single and Rocchio followed with a single. Kwan then hit a ground-rule double into the bleachers down the right field line, driving in pinch-runner Petey Halpin. Bazzana then hit a sacrifice fly to right to drive in Rocchio for the game-winning run.

--Field Level Media