ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Kenny Rosenberg gave up one run over five innings to earn his first career win as the Los Angeles Angels held on for a 2-1 victory over the Cleveland Guardians on Sunday.
Mike Moustakas and Randal Grichuk each drove in a run for the Angels, who took advantage of two balk calls on Guardians starter Tanner Bibee in the third. Cleveland lost three of four in the series and is 7 1/2 games behind first-place Minnesota in the AL Central.
Angels designated hitter Shohei Ohtani missed his seventh straight game with an oblique strain. Los Angeles manager Phil Nevin was optimistic Ohtani will return Monday at Seattle.
“We’ve taken a lot of gut punches (with injuries),” Nevin said. “We are where we are. They’re playing hard and playing to win.”
Kole Calhoun homered for the Guardians against his former team, and Bibee (10-4) allowed two hits over seven innings. The rookie from nearby Mission Viejo retired his last 14 batters and did not issue a walk. He struck out eight in his first appearance at Angel Stadium.
Rosenberg (1-1) permitted six hits and one walk. Andrew Wantz, Ben Joyce, Jimmy Herget and Carlos Estévez each worked a scoreless inning in relief, with Estévez earning his 30th save.
“It’s obviously nice to get the first one out of the way," Rosenberg said. “And yeah, they do the traditional beer shower. A little extracurriculars — not just beer. A couple of eggs, ice water, all good stuff. It’s a fun celebration. I had just as much adrenaline in there as I did (on the field).”
Los Angeles took a 1-0 lead in the first when Grichuk doubled, went to third on a groundout by Brandon Drury and scored on Moustakas’ sacrifice fly.
Calhoun got the run back in the second with his fourth home run in 29 games with the Guardians since he was acquired for cash from the Los Angeles Dodgers. Calhoun has hit 73 of his 177 career home runs at Angel Stadium.
The Angels took a 2-1 lead in the third when Kyren Paris singled, went to second and then third on Bibee's two balks and scored on Grichuk's groundout.
Bibee had multiple animated discussions with second base umpire Pat Hoberg, who made the balk calls. The right-hander also spoke with first base ump Brian O’Nora after the inning.
Bibee declined to go into much detail about those conversations, saying only he was told he stopped twice while in his pitching motion.
“I think it’s just one of those things to turn the page and have a short memory,” Bibee said. “I think being able to do that, obviously, let me go deep (in the game). I think it gave me a little more anger to it and kind of put a little more on the ball.”
Bibee locked in from there, retiring 14 consecutive batters through the seventh.
“It was pretty unbelievable,” he said about starting a game in Orange County. “I’ve been coming here my whole life to see games. I went to (Cal State Fullerton) like 10 minutes away. ... Even though it’s only 10 feet away from the stands to the field, it’s super different. But it was super cool to do in front of all my friends and family.”
TRAINER'S ROOM
Guardians: RHPs Shane Bieber and Triston McKenzie are in line to begin minor league rehab assignments this week. Both pitchers are on the 60-day injured list with elbow issues.
Angels: OF Mickey Moniak missed his fifth game in a row with a lower back injury that Nevin said is also affecting Moniak's oblique on the right side. ... Rookie 1B Nolan Schanuel missed his second consecutive game with shoulder soreness. ... Joyce (elbow) and SS Zach Neto (back) were activated from the injured list.
UP NEXT
The Guardians are set to send right-hander Gavin Williams (2-5, 3.34 ERA) to the mound Monday to begin a three-game series at San Francisco.
Angels left-hander Reid Detmers (3-10, 4.82) starts Monday in the opener of a three-game series at Seattle.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB
