Angels 12 - 3 Guardians
Final
  for this game

Indians resume playoff push against Angels

Sep 8, 2014 - 1:03 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - Danny Salazar looks to extend a recent string of solid Cleveland Indians pitching and continue his club's surge towards a playoff spot on Monday afternoon in a makeup contest with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Salazar is coming off a pair of scoreless outings, first working around four hits and two walks over five innings to beat Kansas City on Aug. 29. He then tossed the first shutout of his career on Wednesday in a matchup with Detroit, limiting the Tigers to eight hits and striking out nine without a walk.

"I thought it was good for him that he could prove to himself that he can stay out there," said Cleveland manager Terry Francona. "He held his velocity the entire game."

Salazar is 6-6 with a 3.80 earned run average this season and will face the Angels for the second time. The first encounter came on Aug. 20 of last year, with a 24-year-old righty getting a no-decision after allowing one run and striking out seven over 5 1/3 frames.

Cleveland's starters were on point all weekend in a three-game sweep of the Chicago White Sox. T.J. House yielded one run over seven innings on Friday, keeping his club in an eventual extra-inning victory, while Corey Kluber hurled a complete game to win on Saturday.

It was Carlos Carrasco's turn in Sunday's finale and he fired 8 2/3 scoreless innings for a 2-0 victory. He fell just short of the shutout as Cody Allen was called upon to get the final out with the tying run on base.

"When you get good pitching, it makes everything look better," Francona remarked.

Cleveland has won 10 of its last 14 games to pull within 3 1/2 contests of the American League's second wild card.

The Indians took two of three from the Angels at home back in mid-June, with the third contest of that originally-scheduled four-game set postponed. That led to this matinee meeting and the Angels will be trying to extend their lead atop the AL West. They currently lead Oakland by seven games.

Los Angeles wrapped up a four-game sweep of Minnesota on Sunday with a 14-4 rout. It put an exclamation point on the Angels' first four-game sweep of the Twins since July 17-19, 1964.

Howie Kendrick, Mike Trout and C.J. Cron all homered in Los Angeles' 10th victory in 12 games, while C.J. Wilson gave up three runs over 6 1/3 innings.

The Angels today turn to Jered Weaver, who had a string of three straight winning decisions snapped on Wednesday despite a solid effort against Houston.

Weaver held the Astros to a pair of runs over six innings on five hits and two walks, striking out six in a 4-1 loss. The setback dropped the righty to 15-8 with a 3.56 ERA on the year.

The 31-year-old has split a pair of starts versus the Indians this season, allowing four runs and two homers over six innings in a loss at Cleveland on June 16.






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