The Cleveland bullpen made four innings of work hold up. Slade Cecconi struck out seven batters over four scoreless innings, and three relievers finished what he started in a 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Angels at Progressive Field.
Cecconi allowed 5 hits and struck out 7 batters over 4 innings without walking more than one batter, carrying a 5.60 ERA. Hunter Gaddis earned the win with 1.1 innings of scoreless relief, while Cade Smith recorded his 12th save with 1.1 innings and 2 strikeouts.
Angel Martinez homered to right in the third inning to open the scoring. Schneemann scored on Bailey's groundout to first in the fifth, extending Cleveland's lead to 2-0. Rocchio's sacrifice fly to right brought Halpin home in the seventh for what proved to be the decisive margin.
Walbert Urena took the loss despite allowing just 2 runs over 5 innings, striking out 4 and walking 1. The Angels managed 8 hits but could not capitalize consistently. Peraza scored on Adell's lineout to center in the sixth, and Grissom homered to center in the eighth to pull within one run.
Cleveland improved to 22-21 and moved into first place in their division. Los Angeles fell to 16-26 and remains in fifth place.