CLEVELAND _ The Indians will certainly take a little Baker Mayfield magic.
The Indians' offense started slow but after Mayfield was shown on the scoreboard to energize the crowd, the Tribe quickly followed with a rally that spurred a 7-2 win over the Los Angeles Angels Saturday night at Progressive Field.
The Indians (65-45) and Angels (56-56) entered the bottom of the fifth inning still scoreless, with the former being no-hit. Mayfield then appeared on the scoreboard, finished his beer, had another one thrown to him which he then shotgunned with his teeth before turning around to show off a Francisco Lindor jersey.
The crowd went nuts. And the Indians' offense suddenly, and almost immediately, found its groove.
Franmil Reyes with one out lined a double to left field off Trevor Cahill, breaking up the combined no-hitter that was started by Felix Pena, though he left the game in the second inning with a sprained right knee. Jason Kipnis followed by blasting a two-run home run to right -center field, marking his ninth homer of the season.
Kevin Plawecki was hit by a pitch, which brought on reliever Justin Anderson. Tyler Naquin rolled a single to right field and Lindor, whose jersey Mayfield had shown off just a few minutes prior, launched a three-run home run to center field. It was his 19th home run of the season and it gave the Indians a 5-0 lead.
Mayfield was again shown on the scoreboard to an ovation. And he isn't the one who drove any runs in or should get credit for the rally, but the timing made for one heck of a coincidence.
That five-run rally was enough to support Indians starting pitcher Adam Plutko, who turned in a strong outing with one run on five hits allowed to go with a walk and four strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings. The Angels also scored a run in their next at-bat after Mayfield's appearance, but their rally was cut short. David Fletcher singled and Shohei Ohtani doubled to put two runners in scoring position. Nick Goody came in to relieve Plutko with Justin Upton at the plate. Upton brought home a run via a sacrifice fly, and Goody retired Kole Calhoun to end the inning.
Carlos Santana in the bottom of the eighth drilled a solo home run to center field, his 24th of the season, and Franmil Reyes added a sacrifice fly to score Jose Ramirez from third base after he reached on a double and an error.
