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 Richards tied a career best with 11 strikeouts as the Angels broke a
six-game skid by rallying for a 5-4 win over the Cleveland Indians
on Monday night at Angel Stadium.
Los Angeles drew within three games of the first-place Houston
Astros in the American League West while giving the Indians their
third consecutive loss and their ninth in the past 12 games.
"It's wins like this that get a team back on track," said Richards,
who allowed three runs in the first inning. "I put us in a hole
early, but I told myself that I could still make an outing out of
this. That's part of maturing and evolving as a starting pitcher."
Richards (11-8) also broke a personal two-game losing streak. He
retired 15 of 16 batters between the first and sixth innings,
including 14 in a row. In 7 1/3 innings, Richards conceded three
walks, four runs and four hits.
"He's got phenomenal stuff," Cleveland manager Terry Francona said
of Richards. "Once they got the runs back, you could tell he was
smelling it."
Indians right-hander Corey Kluber (6-12) yielded five runs, 10 hits
and a hit batter while striking out four in 5 2/3 innings.
The Angels moved ahead by sending nine batters to the plate in the
bottom of the sixth inning to turn five hits and alert baserunning
into three runs a 5-3 lead. After shortstop Erick Aybar lined a
single over the glove of second baseman Jose Ramirez, third baseman
Conor Gillaspie sent an 87 mph pitch down the right field line for
his fourth home run of the season.
One out later, second baseman Johnny Giavotella lined a single to
center field. Catcher Carlos Perez then hit a ground ball that
Cleveland third baseman Giovanny Urshela fielded. As Urshela threw
to first base, Giavotella rounded second and slid head-first into
third. Left fielder David De Jesus brought Giavotella home with an
infield single.
"They probably hit the ball harder in the first four innings than
they did in the last two," Kluber said of his outing. "That's just
the way it works sometimes."
The Indians narrowed the margin by one run in the top of the eighth
and put the possible go-ahead run on base. Martinez walked against
Richards to begin the inning, took second one out later when
designated hitter Michael Brantley singled off left-hander Cesar
Ramos' glove and scored on first baseman Carlos Santana's single
that sent Brantley to second base.
Right-handed reliever Joe Smith defused the threat by striking out
catcher Yan Gomes and left fielder Tyler Holt.
Cleveland then brought the potential lead run to the plate in the
ninth. Center fielder Michael Bourn lined a single to center field
with one out and stole second with two outs. However, right-hander
Huston Street earned his 26th save by getting second baseman Jose
Ramirez to fly out to end the game.
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The Indians took a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Ramirez
began the game with a walk, moved to second base on shortstop
Francisco Lindor's sacrifice and came home when Brantley singled to
right field.
One out later, Gomes propelled Richards' 96 mph fastball over the
fence in right-center field for a two-run home run, his sixth of the
season.
After Gomes' homer, Richards settled down.
"You've got to eat as many innings as possible," said Richards, who
attributed his improvement to "slowing down my delivery and using my
warm-up pitches in between innings to get the ball back in the
strike zone."
The Angels had a chance to score in the bottom of the first when
right fielder Kole Calhoun hit a deep drive to center field. Bourn
made a leaping, one-handed catch at the wall with his back toward
home plate to steal a home run.
Los Angeles narrowed the deficit to 3-2 in the fifth on run-scoring
singles by Calhoun and center fielder Mike Trout.
NOTES: Cleveland placed 2B Jason Kipnis on the disabled list with an
inflamed right shoulder. Through Sunday, Kipnis led the American
League with 132 hits and ranked third with a .326 average. ... The
Indians also optioned LHP Michael Roth to Triple-A Columbus and
recalled LHP Kyle Crockett and INF Jose Ramirez from the same club.
... Angels CF Mike Trout was selected the American League player of
the month for July. Trout batted .347 with 12 home runs, 26 RBIs and
20 runs in 21 games last month. ... The Angels recalled RHP Cam
Bedrosian from Triple-A Salt Lake. RHP Drew Rucinski was optioned to
Salt Lake after allowing the game-winning homer to Dodgers OF Andre
Ethier on Sunday. ... Los Angeles LHP Andrew Heaney was chosen the
American League rookie of the month for July after going 4-0 with a
1.98 ERA. ... The game drew a crowd of 37,030.
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