Messick's 6 Strong Innings Lift Guardians Past Angels 4-2
Austin Hedges homered and Jo Adell drove in the go-ahead run against his former team as Cleveland won its fifth straight.
Parker Messick pitched six innings of one-run ball and Austin Hedges hit a two-run homer as the Cleveland Guardians beat the Los Angeles Angels 4-2 on Monday night in Anaheim.
Jo Adell, acquired from the Angels on August 3, hit a go-ahead single against his former team in the fifth inning, his 13th RBI in six games with Cleveland. Messick (10-8) allowed three hits, struck out four and walked one, extending to nine his streak of consecutive starts allowing two or fewer runs. Through 26 starts this season, the rookie left-hander has a 2.50 ERA with 156 strikeouts in 155 innings.
Colin Holderman struck out three of four batters he faced in the seventh. Hunter Gaddis threw a scoreless eighth, and Cade Smith gave up a run in the ninth before earning his 34th save. Cleveland has won five straight games and pulled within 2 1/2 games of the first-place Chicago White Sox in the American League Central.
Angels rookie George Klassen (2-2) allowed three runs — two earned — on six hits over 5 1/3 innings. Messick retired his first nine batters before Zach Neto and Mike Trout opened the fourth with singles. Moisés Ballesteros later tied the game 1-1 with an RBI single.
Cleveland had taken a 1-0 lead in the third on a sacrifice fly by Nathaniel Lowe. Adell's single put the Guardians ahead in the fifth, and Hedges extended the lead to 4-1 with a two-out homer off reliever Blake Weiman in the sixth. Gustavo Campero's sacrifice fly pulled the Angels to 4-2 in the ninth, but Christian Moore flied out with a runner on for the final out.
Guardians right-hander Gavin Williams (12-7, 3.72 ERA) is scheduled to face Angels right-hander Walbert Ureña on Tuesday night.
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