Leadoff hitter Angel Martinez, pitcher Parker Messick help Guardians complete sweep of Angels

CLEVELAND — Score one for Stephen Vogt. The manager gave a struggling Steven Kwan the day off Wednesday afternoon, replacing him with Angel Martinez atop the batting order. The move paid off immediately when Martinez hit his first career leadoff home run and the Guardians went on to beat the Angels 4-2 at Progressive Field to complete a three-game sweep. The win was first-place Cleveland's sixth in the last eight games. Martinez hit the fourth pitch of the game from left-hander Reid Detmers over the wall in left field for his second homer in as many days. "It's pretty fun to get a homer on the first at-bat and then getting on base on the error and making things happen on the bases (two steals)," Vogt said. "On Kwany's off day, he stepped in and did a great job." Martinez, who also scored two runs, said he benefitted from batting in front of Jose Ramirez and Chase DeLauter. Ramirez hit second for the first time this season, while DeLauter batted third. "It's always good to have Hosey in the lineup behind us," Martinez said. "They're both really good hitters. I know (pitchers) are going to attack me more in the zone." Ramirez seemed open to making the change for good. "Batting second, you get a better pitch," he said. "I don't care about it. I like to be in the game, play hard, and that's it. It's easier. Our hitters are going to be more comfortable. It's better for the lineup." "Hosey got on base twice and hit two balls right on the nose and obviously Chase didn't skip a beat," Vogt said. "So, we're going to keep evaluating where we want to be with the lineup. It changes every day and we make it to beat the starter. It worked today. We'll see where we're at on Friday." The Guardians got another quality start from left-hander Parker Messick, who allowed two or fewer runs for the seventh time in nine outings this year. "It was probably the best pregame bullpen I've ever felt in my life, and then it just did not translate to the game," Messick said. "I didn't have a great feel for all the pitches, especially early. I had to kind of fight through that. It's just one of those things. "You can't give up on anything, and (catcher Austin Hedges) does a really good job of not letting me do that. He's going to force me to get pitches in the zone, and then we find the right spots to throw the ones we feel are working the best. That's what we did, did a good job of managing everything and ended up with a pretty decent one." "It's very exciting for us to see him go every single (start) and do what he does," Martinez said. "He brings a lot of energy. He pounds the zone and makes us ready to make the play." Messick held Los Angeles scoreless on one hit through the first four innings before surrendering consecutive hits — a leadoff single to Oswald Peraza followed by a homer from Zach Neto — in the fifth. He retired the side in order on two strikeouts in the sixth and struck out two of the three batters he faced in the seventh before being lifted. "He wasn't sharp, but you could see he and Hedgie just figuring out how to get in the zone, how to keep them off-balance," Vogt said. "Man, did he make pitch after pitch after pitch. As the outing was going, it was like, 'Man, how's he doing (this)?' But he just kept going. Parker, he just battles. He competes and it's what we've talked about. It was a very mature outing by him." Neto's seventh homer brought the Angels within a run, but Daniel Scheemann put Cleveland in front 4-2 with a two-out single in the sixth to chase Detmers. A two-run cushion was more than enough for relievers Erik Sabrowski and closer Cade Smith, who stuck out the side over the final two innings. With one out in the eighth, Sabrowski walked Vaughn Grissom, who advanced to third on two wild pitches, but the right-hander whiffed Mike Trout and Jo Adell to end the inning. Smith struck out all three batters he faced in the ninth for his second save in two days. He leads the American League with 13 saves in 15 opportunities. Trout went 0-for-4 to end his streak of reaching base in all of his career starts against Cleveland at 25 games. It was the longest streak by an opposing player since David Ortiz reached in 29 from 2011-16. "He's one of the best players in the world. He always has been," Messick said. "So, when you see him step in the box, you kind of lock in a little differently, just because he is who he is. When I face guys that are like the Trouts of the world, I just try not to look at them. "I just try to remember the game plan and go execute it because you spend too long oohing and ahhing and then that's when they give you something to ooh and ahh about. It's an awesome opportunity for me as a young guy to face a legend like him. So, it was really cool." Contact Chris Assenheimer at (440) 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him on X @CAwesomeheimer.