Indians 4, Angels 1 (14 innings)
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Drew Stubbs hit a two-run home run off Joe Blanton in the top of the 14th inning, leading the Cleveland Indians to a 4-1 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday night at Angel Stadium.
Carlos Carrasco (1-4), one of eight Indians relievers in the game, got the victory over Blanton (2-14) in a game that lasted five hours and 17 minutes and ended after midnight early Wednesday morning.
The Indians added an unearned run off Blanton in the 14th to finish off the scoring.
With the win, Cleveland (68-58) moved within three games of the Oakland A's for the second American League wild-card spot. Meanwhile, the Angels (55-70) fell 15 games under .500 for the first time since Mike Scioscia took over as manager in 2000. The last time the Angels were as many as 15 games under .500 was after the final game of the 1999 season, when they were 70-92.
Angels starter C.J. Wilson cruised early, shutting out the Indians on two hits through six innings. But he was walking a tightrope, the Angels able to get only one run for him off Indians starter Danny Salazar. Leading off the seventh, the Indians got even when Carlos Santana homered to center, just over the outstretched glove of Peter Bourjos to tie the game at 1-1.
Wilson allowed one run and four hits in 7 1/3 innings, striking out five and walking three.
The Angels had a chance to take a lead in the bottom of the eighth, putting runners on first and second with one out. However, Josh Hamilton was picked off second base by Indians pitcher Marc Rzepczynski for the second out of the inning. Kole Calhoun followed with a single to right, moving Mark Trumbo from first to third, but Chris Nelson struck out to end the inning.
The Angels had another chance in the bottom of the ninth when they had two on and two out, but shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera made a fantastic stop of Erick Aybar's grounder up the middle, throwing him out to send the game into extra innings.
The Angels could not have asked for a better opportunity to win it in the 10th after Hamilton singled and went to second on a walk by Trumbo. Calhoun was called on to sacrifice, but his bunt was perfect and went for a hit, loading the bases. But it went downhill from there for Los Angeles.
Matt Albers struck out Nelson for the first out of the inning. Indians manager Terry Francona then brought in lefty Rich Hill to face Hank Conger, who lined out to third for the second out of the inning. Hill was replaced by Bryan Shaw, who struck out Grant Green to escape the jam.
J.B. Shuck led off the Angels' half of the first inning with a home run, the second of the season and of his career.
NOTES: Angels OF Mike Trout did not play for the second game in a row because of a sore right hamstring. Trout, who hurt the hamstring running out a double Sunday, said the hamstring continues to improve, but manager Mike Scioscia decided to give him another day. Trout is questionable for Wednesday's game. ... Angels C Chris Iannetta has a chance to become the fourth player since 2007 to finish the season with more walks than hits (minimum 120 games). Iannetta, who has 60 walks and 55 hits, would join Barry Bonds (2007), Jack Cust (2007) and Adam Dunn (2011) as those with more walks than hits. ... RHP Daisuke Matsuzaka asked for and was granted his unconditional release by the Indians. Matsuzaka went 5-8 with a 3.92 ERA in 19 starts for Triple-A Columbus this season, never being called up to the major league club. He has pitched well of late, going 4-3 with a 2.50 ERA in his past eight starts at Columbus. ... OF Ryan Raburn, who is tied for the Indians' team lead with 15 home runs, is the only player in the majors with at least 15 home runs and fewer than 200 at-bats (195). His home runs per at-bats ratio of one homer every 13 at-bats ranks third in the majors behind Chris Davis (1 in 9.9) and Miguel Cabrera (1 in 11.1).