Angels edge Indians

8/19/2009

CLEVELAND Trevor Bell got his first major league win, helping the Los Angeles Angels beat the Cleveland Indians 5-4 last night for their fourth straight win.

Bell (1-0) gave up three runs and nine hits over 51/3 innings in the second start of his career. The 22-year-old right-hander worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the third inning and retired nine of his final 11 batters, allowing only two walks over that span.

Brian Fuentes, the Angels fourth pitcher, worked a perfect ninth for his 35th save in 40 chances, tying Mariano Rivera of the New York Yankees for the AL lead.

Vladimir Guerrero had three hits for Los Angeles, which leads the AL West and has won seven of eight. The Angels have scored 65 runs during that run and all nine hitters in their starting lineup Tuesday are batting over .300 for the season.

Asdrubal Cabrera had four hits for Cleveland, extending his hitting streak to a career-high 12 games. He has batted .467 (21-for 45) during the streak.

Bell looked as if he might be in trouble in the third inning, when Cleveland got five consecutive one-out singles. But after Cabrera and Shin-soo Choo each had run-scoring hits, Bell struck out Travis Hafner and caught a popup by Valbuena to avoid further damage.

Chone Figgins walked to open the game against Fausto Carmona (2-8) and scored when Juan Rivera bounced into a double play.

A two-out fielding error by first baseman Andy Marte on a bouncer hit by Figgins led to two unearned runs and a 3-0 lead in the second. One run scored on the play and Bobby Abreu followed with an RBI single.

Cleveland cut the deficit to 3-1 in the bottom half. Choo singled, moved up on a wild pitch by Bell and scored on a two-out infield hit by Luis Valbuena.

Kendry Morales and Erick Aybar had run-scoring singles in the third to put the Angels ahead 5-1.

Jhonny Peralta s bases-loaded single made it 5-4 in the seventh, but Hafner grounded into a double play to end that rally.