Mathis’ sacrifice fly in 16th inning gives Angels 4-3 win over Indians

Angels beat Tribe in 16 inning on Mathis’ sac fly

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Jeff Mathis drove in the winning run with a sacrifice fly in the 16th inning and the Los Angeles Angels got home runs from Mike Napoli and rookie Peter Bourjos in a 4-3 victory over the Cleveland Indians on Wednesday night, the longest game of the season for both teams.

Cleveland rookie Hector Ambriz (0-2), working his fourth inning of relief, gave up a leadoff double to left-center by Torii Hunter on the 500th pitch of the game. Hunter advanced on Alberto Callaspo’s grounder to first base and jogged home after Mathis’ flyball to right field.

Matt Palmer (1-1) pitched three innings of two-hit relief for the victory, striking out the side in the 15th.

Fernando Rodney, who took over the closer’s role for the Angels after Brian Fuentes was traded to Minnesota on Aug. 27, gave up the tying run in the ninth on a one-out RBI single by pinch-hitter Jayson Nix. The blown save was Rodney’s fourth in 12 opportunities this season, and just his fifth in 52 chances dating to 2008 with Detroit.

Callaspo singled with one out in the bottom half of the ninth and tried to score on a pitch from Joe Smith that broke off the glove of catcher Lou Marson and to the right of home plate. But Marson, who entered the game that inning after Nix batted for starting catcher Chris Gimenez, hustled after the ball and threw to Smith for the tag on Callaspo.

Cleveland center fielder Michael Brantley robbed Juan Rivera of a home run leading off the 10th against Justin Germano, after the Indians stranded two runners in scoring position in the top of the inning on a groundout by Andy Marte against Bobby Cassevah. The rookie right-hander escaped another jam in the 11th, retiring Asdrubal Cabrera on a comebacker with runners at the corners.

The Angels loaded the bases in the 11th against Germano, who gave up a walk and a hit-and-run single to Hunter before walking Callaspo intentionally to set up a possible double play. But Mathis fouled out to Marson on an attempted suicide squeeze bunt and Erick Aybar struck out.

Scott Kazmir matched Cleveland’s Josh Tomlin pitch-for-pitch through four hitless innings and left after six with a 3-1 lead before the Angels’ bullpen squandered it.

Marte, who came in with four hits in five career at-bats against Kazmir, struck out both times up against the left-hander. His next time up, he hit his fourth homer of the season with one out in the seventh off rookie right-hander Jordan Walden to trim the Angels’ lead to 3-2.

Kazmir allowed a run and two hits, struck out six and walked three. The two-time All-Star came in with a 7.07 ERA and .360 opponents batting average against Cleveland, his highest numbers against any team.

Kazmir was 1-8 with a 7.74 ERA in his previous starts after winning his previous four — all on the road. He was 0-7 with a 6.81 ERA in his previous seven starts at Angel Stadium after winning his first two outings at the Big A in April.

Tomlin gave up three runs and three hits over six innings, walked three and struck out four in his eighth career start.

Neither team had a hit until Cleveland’s Jason Donald led off the fifth with a double inside third base and scored one out later on a single by Trevor Crowe. But Napoli put the Angels ahead in the bottom half with his 23rd homer, a two-run shot.

Bourjos led off the sixth with a drive that just cleared the fence in left-center and increased the Angels’ margin to 3-1. It was the third homer for Bourjos, who came in batting .196 in 28 games following his promotion from Triple-A on Aug. 3.

NOTES: The Indians stranded a season-high 16 baserunners, surpassing the 14 they left on base against the Angels in a 5-2 loss on April 26 at Anaheim. … For the third straight game, an Angels pitcher threw the ball away trying to pick off a runner at first base. This time it was in the 16th, when Shin-Soo Choo advanced on the error by Palmer after drawing a two-out walk. But Brown stranded him with a comebacker. … Kazmir surpassed the 1,000-inning mark for his career, and is 16 strikeouts shy of 1,000. … Despite the loss, the Indians won their first series from the Angels since May 2005 after winning the first two games, 3-2 and 6-1.