CLEVELAND (Interstat) — Zach Neto’s two-run home run in the top of the fifth inning gave the Los Angeles Angels a brief lead Wednesday afternoon at Progressive Field, but the Cleveland Guardians answered with a run in the bottom of the sixth to reclaim the advantage and held on for a 4-2 victory in front of 21,142 fans.

The game, which lasted 2 hours, 29 minutes, was the third consecutive win for Cleveland in the three-game series. The Guardians improved to 24-21 while the Angels fell to 16-28.

Cleveland starter Parker Messick earned his fifth win of the season, tossing 6 2/3 innings while allowing four hits and two earned runs with seven strikeouts and three walks. Messick, now 5-1 on the season, worked out of trouble in the early innings before the Angels finally broke through in the fifth.

Los Angeles left-hander Reid Detmers took the loss, his fourth of the year against one win. Detmers pitched six innings, yielding four runs — three earned — on seven hits with four strikeouts and two walks. He was replaced by Jose Soriano in the seventh.

Cade Smith picked up his 13th save of the season with a perfect ninth inning, striking out three batters.

Angel Martínez opened the scoring in the bottom of the first inning with a leadoff home run, his seventh of the season, to left field. The Guardians added another run in the frame without a hit after Martinez’s blast. José Ramírez walked and Chase DeLauter singled, and after Rhys Hoskins struck out, David Fry grounded out to Detmers, scoring Ramírez to make it 2-0.

Cleveland added a run in the third inning despite recording only one hit. Martínez reached on a throwing error by Angels third baseman Yoán Moncada to open the inning. Ramírez was hit by a pitch, and after DeLauter sacrificed both runners into scoring position, Martínez scored on a sacrifice fly to center field. The Guardians led 3-0.

The Angels’ offense, which had managed only two hits through the first four innings against Messick, finally broke through in the fifth. Oswald Peraza led off with a single to second base. Neto then crushed a 1-1 pitch from Messick over the left-field wall for a two-run homer, his seventh of the season, cutting the deficit to 3-2. After Moncada walked, Sebastián Rivero sacrificed him to second, and Bryce Teodosio grounded out to move Moncada to third, but Vaughn Grissom struck out to end the inning.

The Guardians regained the lead in the bottom of the sixth. Hoskins led off with a single to shortstop. David Fry struck out, but Travis Bazzana singled to center, putting runners at first and second. Daniel Schneemann then lined a single to center, scoring Hoskins and giving Cleveland a 4-2 advantage. Bazzana moved to second on the play, but Austin Hedges grounded out to end the inning.

Cleveland’s bullpen made the lead stand. Erik Sabrowski struck out three batters in a perfect eighth inning, and Smith closed the door in the ninth with three consecutive strikeouts.

For the Angels, Neto finished 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a run scored. Peraza was 1-for-4 with a run, and Rivero was 1-for-3. Los Angeles managed only four hits total and struck out 13 times.

For the Guardians, Bazzana went 2-for-4 with a run, and Schneemann drove in the decisive run with a 1-for-3 day. Hoskins was 1-for-3 with a run and a walk. Martínez homered and scored twice but also struck out twice. David Fry drove in a run on a groundout in the first inning.

Defensively, the Guardians turned two double plays, both started by shortstop Brayan Rocchio, who also struck out twice in three at-bats. Rocchio did not reach base.

The Angels have now lost three straight games and seven of their last eight. They won two days earlier in Toronto, 6-1, but have otherwise struggled, scoring two or fewer runs in four of their last five contests.

Cleveland has won five of its last six games and is now three games above .500 on the season. The Guardians have outscored their opponents 18-10 over the three-game series against the Angels.

The game featured a pivotal sequence in the bottom of the third inning when the Guardians capitalized on an error to extend their lead. With Martínez on first after a fielding miscue by Moncada, Ramírez was hit by a pitch. DeLauter’s sacrifice fly moved both runners into scoring position, and Martínez scored on the play. That run proved important, as it gave Messick a two-run cushion heading into the Angels’ fifth-inning rally.

The most important part of the game occurred in the bottom of the sixth inning when, after the Angels had tied the score at 3-3 in the top of the fifth and then failed to take the lead despite having Moncada at third with one out in that same inning, the Guardians immediately answered. Hoskins’ leadoff single started the rally, and Bazzana’s two-out single kept the inning alive. Schneemann’s line-drive single to center scored Hoskins and put the Guardians ahead to stay.

Neither team scored after the sixth inning. The Angels had a chance in the top of the seventh when Neto singled with one out, but Moncada struck out and substitute Adam Frazier grounded out. In the eighth, Grissom walked with one out, but Mike Trout was called out on strikes on a challenged pitch call that was confirmed, and Jo Adell struck out to end the threat.

Trout finished 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. Adell was 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. Jorge Soler was 0-for-4 with three strikeouts.

The game time of 2:29 was the shortest of the three-game series. The previous two games, both Guardian wins, lasted 2:46 and 3:04.

Los Angeles returns home to face the Los Angeles Dodgers in a three-game series beginning Friday. Cleveland will host the Cincinnati Reds for a weekend series starting Friday.

Interstat’s game simulator projected a final score of Cleveland Guardians 4, Los Angeles Angels 3, matching the actual result. Interstat’s ELO system gave Cleveland a 65.80 percent probability to win. The Guardians were installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of minus-1.5. The total score of six runs went over the over-under line of seven.