Guardians hold off Angels to clinch series

CLEVELAND — The Guardians managed only four hits, but right-hander Slade Cecconi and the bullpen made it work Tuesday night at Progressive Field. Angel Martinez hit a leadoff homer for the game's first run in the third inning, and Cleveland held off Mike Trout and the Angels 3-2 for its fifth win in seven games. Cecconi was effective, but a high pitch count (89) limited him to four innings. He allowed hits in each of the first three innings but kept the Angels off the scoreboard, striking out five over the span. Cecconi allowed consecutive two-out hits in the third, but struck out Vaughn Grissom, finishing with a season-high seven strikeouts. "I thought Slade did a great job with the three fastballs," said manager Stephen Vogt, who was back in the dugout after a two-game absence due to illness. "It looked like he was shaping his cutter at times, too. They got his pitch count up, made him work, so we had to get him out of there after four. But to keep them off the scoreboard like that, that was an outstanding job by Slade." Cecconi was backed by a bullpen that allowed two runs on three hits over the final five innings. "Outside of a home run ball that happens and a shooter triple down the line, they were almost flawless again," Vogt said of his relievers. "They continue to just be solid when we need them to be. They've been excellent." Franco Aleman allowed a leadoff homer to Grissom to pull the Angels within a run in the eighth, but closer Cade Smith got the final four outs — including Trout on a drive to the warning track in center — for his American League-leading 12th save in 14 tries. "I've got a lot of respect and admiration for the player that he is," Smith said of Trout. "It scared me a little bit when I saw that ball off the bat for sure, but it stayed in the park and I got the job done." After a slow start to the season in which he allowed runs in four of his first six appearances, Smith has found a groove, surrendering two runs over his last 13 games. "There's constant conversation with the pitching coaches here, trying to get everything fine-tuned and dialed in and ready to go," Smith said. "It's not an easy thing to roll out your most efficient mechanics and approach and delivery for 162 games in a row. "Dealing with the ups and down, having that conversation, 'How do I get back to where I'm at my best and where I feel like I can repeat that,' is a big part of that conversation. And then once you have that confidence, that trust in that, you just go out there and compete." "I think he's back to north, south," Vogt said. "Early in the year he was kind of working across himself. And we knew that, and Cade identified it. But he's back to getting the top rail with his fastball, his split is way more consistent, and he still has the sweeper he can land from time to time." Martinez's sixth homer was a drive just over the wall in right field off Angels starter Walbert Urena, accounting for his first since he went deep twice April 24. Martinez was robbed of at least extra bases in his next at-bat in the fifth when right fielder Jo Adell leapt and made the catch at the wall with Daniel Schneemann on second after a leadoff walk. "Angel was off to a great start and then had kind of a rough eight to 10 days leading up to tonight," Vogt said. "But to see him get back to who he is, and that's looking for the ball out over the plate. Drove the change-up for the home run and got robbed on the second one, just great at-bats." Patrick Bailey grounded to first to score Schneemann with his first RBI in a Cleveland uniform. A sacrifice fly from Brayan Rocchio scored the Guardians' other run in the seventh. Steven Kwan snapped an 0-for-12 skid with a leadoff single in the first. Trout had an infield single in the first. He has reached base in all 25 of his career starts against Cleveland. Contact Chris Assenheimer at (440) 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him on X @CAwesomeheimer.