CLEVELAND _ How do you effectively erase a 1-5 road trip? Sweeping a seven-game homestand certainly helps.
Trevor Bauer delivered arguably his best outing of this season and Francisco Lindor came through with the timely hit, and the Indians took down the Los Angeles Angels, 2-1, on Thursday afternoon at Progressive Field.
It was the Indians' seventh win in a row, as they completed a three-game sweep of the Angels after also sweeping the Toronto Blue Jays and beating the Cincinnati Reds in a makeup game on Monday. Coming off of a rough road trip, it was exactly what the Indians were searching for.
"We understand the team we have," Lindor said. "We understand the players we have and we know we're going to go through rough patches. It's just a matter of making sure we don't let it affect us that much, just continue to play the game hard, continue to have fun, continue to do whatever it takes to contribute. That's what it's all about."
Brandon Guyer and Austin Jackson each drew walks in the seventh inning in a 1-1 game with Angels starter JC Ramirez still on the mound. After Bradley Zimmer struck out, one of the few times in this homestand he didn't pull off one of the game's biggest plays, Lindor followed with a single to right field that scored Guyer and put the Indians on top 2-1.
After the hit, Lindor was animated.
"The way Bauer was pitching today, I wanted to help him," Lindor said. "He definitely kept us in the game. He definitely deserved to win. Seemed like every time somebody got on second base I haven't been able to get them home the last couple at-bats. When I got the base hit, I was pretty pumped."
Earlier, Carlos Santana put the Indians on top with a solo home run _ his 13th of the season and third in the last four games _ to center field. He entered the game with an OPS of .994 in July, as he's finally started to pick things up offensively.
That was enough for Bauer (9-8), who tossed eight strong innings, allowing one run on seven hits and one walk and striking out six. It included a Houdini act in the seventh to keep it tied.
Angels shortstop Andrelton Simmons singled and third baseman Luis Valbuena doubled to put two runners in scoring position with nobody out. Indians manager Terry Francona left Bauer in the game, and he responded by inducing ground balls by C.J. Cron and Kaleb Cowart sandwiched around a strike out of pinch-hitter Yunel Escobar with a curveball.
"Having the confidence in me to get out of it was huge," Bauer said. "Coming out of the game never crossed my mind. It was kind of one of those things where it's like, 'All right. I've got one of two options. It's either give up runs here and we probably lose or I find some way to get out of it.' Thankfully it worked out. I was able to wiggle my way out."
Closer Cody Allen relieved Bauer to start the ninth and worked a quick inning for his 18th save of the season.
The Indians (55-45) might have avoided a mini-disaster in the third when Cron popped up to shallow right-center field. As Jose Ramirez went back on the ball, Zimmer charged in, essentially tackling Ramirez to the ground. Ramirez made the catch, and both players stayed in the game.
"I think that was the only really negative today," Francona said. "[Ramirez] was thrown for a three-yard loss. But on the good side, he didn't fumble."
