Christian Encarnacion-Strand delivered a go-ahead two-run double, and five relievers combined on 8 1/3 shutout innings as the Cincinnati Reds finished a three-game sweep of the visiting Los Angeles Angels with a 3-0 victory Sunday.
Elly De La Cruz finished an impressive weekend with two hits and a run scored for the Reds, who swept a three-game series from the Angels for a second straight year and have won eight straight against Los Angeles.
Angels starter Jose Soriano (0-3) held the Reds hitless over the first 5 1/3 innings and finished with a career-high six innings. He allowed three hits and three unearned runs, with seven strikeouts and three walks while hitting a batter as the Angels dropped their fourth straight and finished 3-7 on a three-city, 10-game road trip.
For the second straight start, Cincinnati right-hander Frankie Montas had an abbreviated outing. On Monday at Seattle, Montas struggled with five walks, while allowing five runs over two-plus innings.
On Sunday, Montas threw 16 pitches before taking a Taylor Ward line drive off his pitching forearm and leaving the game. The Reds later announced X-rays on the forearm were negative and he was diagnosed with a bruise.
Brent Suter entered and pitched 3 1/3 scoreless innings in his longest outing since throwing four scoreless on Sept. 25, 2020, for the Milwaukee Brewers against the St. Louis Cardinals.
Emilio Pagan (2-1) earned the win with two scoreless innings and was the beneficiary of a slick around-the-horn double play started by third baseman Jeimer Candelario and turned by Santiago Espinal in the sixth.
Alexis Diaz pitched a scoreless ninth for his second save in as many days and his fourth of the season.
In the sixth, the Reds finally broke through against Soriano, taking advantage of a two-out error by Angels second baseman Luis Rengifo on a routine Nick Martini grounder.
The three-run rally began with the first Cincinnati hit, a one-out grounder up the middle by De La Cruz that Rengifo knocked down on the outfield grass but had no play. After the Rengifo error, Encarnacion-Strand belted a two-run double off the wall in left-center.
Candelario, who finished with two hits, followed with a triple off Mike Trout’s glove in center for a 3-0 Cincinnati lead.
–Field Level Media
