Major League Baseball
Cleveland 10, LA Angels 4
When: 7:10 PM ET, Wednesday, July 26, 2017
Where: Progressive Field, Cleveland, Ohio
Temperature: 76°
Umpires: Home - Nic Lentz, 1B - Adam Hamari, 2B - Bill Miller, 3B - Todd Tichenor
Attendance: 22658

CLEVELAND -- The Cleveland Indians have won six games in a row and rookie center fielder Bradley Zimmer has hit leadoff in five of them. That's not a coincidence.

"We thought he could do it, but it's nice to see it," Indians manager Terry Francona said. "The way he plays center field, the way he runs the bases. This bodes well for us."

Wednesday night at Progressive Field, Zimmer's two-out RBI double in the seventh inning broke a 2-2 tie and the Indians scored seven more times in the eighth inning in rolling to a 10-4 victory over the Los Angeles Angels.

The victory extended Cleveland's winning streak to six games. During the streak, the Indians have outscored their opponents 50-18.

"It's a contagious lineup right now. We're keeping the line moving, we're getting good at bats from everyone, and the pitching is on point. We're hitting on all cylinders," said Austin Jackson, who had two of Cleveland's 17 hits to raise his average to .327.

Reliever Bryan Shaw (4-4) pitched one scoreless inning to get the win. Angels starter Ricky Nolasco (4-12) took the loss.

With the score tied 2-2, Jackson led off the bottom of the seventh with a single. Erik Gonzalez lined out for the first out. But Zimmer bounced a double off the left-center field wall on a 3-2 pitch from Nolasco, scoring Jackson with the go-ahead run.

RBI hits by Carlos Santana, Jackson, Yan Gomes, Erik Gonzalez, Michael Brantley and Brandon Guyer in the eighth inning provided Cleveland with seven insurance runs. Seven of the Indians’ 17 hits came in that seven-run eighth, their second seven-run inning in as many nights.

Most of that damage came off Angels reliever Cam Bedrosian, who faced six batters and only retired one. The other five scored.

"Cam was erratic with his command and his breaking ball wasn't sharp. We'll just turn the page on that one," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said.

The Indians and starter Carlos Carrasco took a 2-1 lead into the seventh inning, but Luis Valbuena hit one into the seats in right field for his 11th home run of the season, his second in as many nights, tying it at 2.

In the first two games of the series, Valbuena, who played for the Indians from 2009 to 2011, is 4-for-8 with a double, two home runs and four RBIs.

Carrasco then gave up a single to Ben Revere and a sacrifice bunt, putting the go-ahead run at second with one out. But Shaw, in relief of Carrasco, retired Kaleb Cowart and Yunel Escobar on groundouts to end the inning.

Carrasco pitched 6 1/3 innings, giving up two runs and six hits with five strikeouts and no walks.

"He didn't have his best command, but you look up and he only gave up two runs. That says a lot about his ability, when he doesn't have his best stuff," Francona said.

Nolasco pitched 6 2/3 innings, giving up three runs and nine hits with four strikeouts and two walks.

"He worked around some early command issues, but once he settled in he had a good run and gave us a chance to win," Scioscia said of Nolasco.

The Indians' last batter in Tuesday night's game, Edwin Encarnacion, hit a home run, and their first batter in Wednesday's game also homered.

Leading off the bottom of the first inning, Zimmer hit Nolasco's second pitch of the game over the wall in center field for his seventh home run of the season.

"That was as pretty a swing as you're going to see. It looked like a right-hander hit it," Francona said of the home run.

It was the 27th home run allowed by Nolasco this year, the most of any American League pitcher.

The Angels tied it in the second inning when Andrelton Simmons got hit by a pitch and scored on a double by Valbuena to make it 1-1.

The Indians took a 2-1 lead in the fourth on a two-out RBI single by Yan Gomes.

NOTES: The Indians recalled RHP Shawn Armstrong from Triple-A Columbus and optioned OF Abraham Almonte to Columbus. Manager Terry Francona said the move was made to bolster the Indians' bullpen after heavy usage in Tuesday's11-inning game. ... During their six-game winning streak, the Indians outscored their opponents 50-18. ... Tuesday night marked the first time in Angels history that they gave up two grand slams in a game. They were hit by Indians OF Bradley Zimmer and DH Edwin Encarnacion. ... The Angels recalled RHP Brooks Pounders from Triple-A Salt Lake and optioned LHP Jose Alvarez to Salt Lake. ... When Angels RHP Bud Norris gave up a walk-off grand slam to Indians DH Edwin Encarnacion in the 11th inning on Tuesday night, it snapped a streak of 19 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings by Angels relievers.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
LA Angels   Cleveland
Ricky Nolasco Player Carlos Carrasco
Loss W/L No Decision
6.2 IP 6.1
4 Strikeouts 5
9 Hits 6
4.05 ERA 2.84
Hitting
LA Angels   Cleveland
Mike Trout Player Carlos Santana
3 Hits 3
0 RBI 1
0 HR 0
3 TB 3
.600 Avg .750
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
LA Angels 12 1 18 .333 17 7 3 0 0 0
Cleveland 17 1 22 .459 14 5 10 4 0 0