Indians rally past Angels, 3-2, in the ninth
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Travis Hafner doubled in the tying run with one out in the ninth and pinch-runner Orlando Cabrera scored the game-winner on Jason Kipnis’ single four batters later as the Cleveland Indians rallied for a 3-2 walkoff win over the Angels on Monday, spoiling big nights for Bobby Abreu and Dan Haren.
Abreu, mired in a monthlong slump, had given the Angels a 2-1 lead an inning earlier with a two-run home run, his first since June 22. And Haren, after allowing a first-inning run on two hits, was brilliant, holding the Indians to one hit over the next 7 1/3 innings while matching a season high with 10 strikeouts.
But rookie closer Jordan Walden couldn’t close things out in the ninth.
Michael Brantley led off the inning with a line-drive single just over a leaping Erick Aybar at short. Brantley then stole second and after Asdrubal Cabrera struck out, Hafner drove a pitch off the left-center-field wall to tie the game.
Hafner gave way to pinch-runner Cabrera, who moved to third when Walden walked Carlos Santana on a full-count pitch and hit Hannahan with the count 0-2.
Walden then left in favor of left-hander Hisanori Takahashi. With left-hand-hitting Travis Buck at the plate, the Angels positioned right fielder Torii Hunter on the infield grass between first and second and Buck hit a one-hopper right at him, with Hunter going home to get the force at the plate for the second out. But Kipnis made that moot two pitches later, driving a singling to right to score Cabrera.
The Angels offense has struggled mightily of late, and until Abreu’s homer it looked as if they would finish a game with fewer than two runs for the fourth time in eight tries. While some of the credit for that goes to Indians starter Fausto Carmona, much of the blame belongs with the Angels.
The Angels got a single and double to start the second, yet didn’t score. They got back-to-back walks with one out in the fourth and didn’t score. And they got a double and a walk an inning later yet didn’t score.
They finally broke through against reliever Vinnie Pestano in the eighth, when Maicer Izturis led off with an infield single. After Hunter flied out to deep center Pestano threw a pitchout for ball one to Abreu, then tried to come inside. But Abreu drove the pitch a couple of rows back in the right-field stands.
When the ball went out, Abreu threw his arms in the air near first base and let out a sigh of relief.
That erased a 1-0 Cleveland lead built on Brantley’s one-out double and an RBI single by Asdrubal Cabrera.
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-- Kevin Baxter, reporting from Cleveland