Abraham Almonte launched a grand slam, Carlos Santana drove in three runs with a little help from the sun and Josh Tomlin spun seven-plus strong innings to lead the Indians to a 9-2 rout over the Angels on Sunday at Progressive Field.
The win was the eighth in the past 10 games for Cleveland (63-66), which still has a pulse in the American League Wild Card race. The Indians are five games back of the second Wild Card spot with four teams, including the Angels (65-65), ahead of them. Los Angeles, which is 6 1/2 games out of first in the AL West and 3 1/2 back of a Wild Card spot, has lost eight of 10 and 25 of its last 36.
The Indians are not paying much mind to the standings just yet.
“You can’t look too far ahead,” Indians outfielder Michael Brantley said. “If you look too far ahead, you start putting pressure on yourself and not playing good baseball. You’ve got to take one game for what it is — good, bad or indifferent — and the next day you have to do the same thing over and over. Then, once you get towards the end, then you can start looking a little bit. You can peek. Not look. Peek.”
Almonte delivered a fifth-inning grand slam off Angels starter Jered Weaver, who was charged with eight runs on nine hits in six innings. That all the runs were deemed earned seemed a bit unfair, considering Santana’s two doubles on the day came on balls lost in the sun by Angels outfielders.
The elements did not deter Tomlin, though. The Indians righty limited the Angels to two runs (one on a homer by Grant Green) on six hits, ending with eight strikeouts and no walks. Three of the hits allowed by Tomlin came off the bat of Angels center fielder Mike Trout, who finished a home run shy of his second career cycle.
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