Here comes the sun ... and there go the Angels in 9-2 loss to Indians

Reporting from Cleveland —  If the Angels haven’t hit rock bottom yet, they’re getting very close. They found another way to lose on Sunday, their two best outfielders — Mike Trout and Kole Calhoun — losing fly balls in the sun, both key plays in a 9-2 loss to the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field.

Cleveland center fielder Abraham Almonte broke open the game with a fifth-inning grand slam off Jered Weaver, as the Indians completed a three-game sweep and sent the Angels toward their 25th loss in 36 games.

It marked the seventh time this season that the Angels have been swept in a weekend series. They also fell to 65-65, the first time they have been at .500 since June 26, when they were 37-37.

The only bright spot for the Angels — not including the spherical ball of hot plasma that caused them so many problems — was a four-hit game from Trout, who entered with a dismal .194 August average but came within a home run of his second career cycle.

The Indians took a 1-0 lead in the first when Jason Kipnis doubled to right-center and Michael Brantley hit a one-out, run-scoring double to right. Carlos Santana followed with a high fly ball to right-center that Trout lost in the sun, the ball dropping for an RBI double.

Weaver blanked Cleveland on one hit over the next three innings, but Brantley hit a one-out single in the fifth and Calhoun lost Santana’s high fly ball to the warning track in the sun, the ball dropping for another double that put runners on second and third.

Lonnie Chisenhall was walked intentionally to load the bases, and for the second straight game, an Angels intentional free pass was followed by a grand slam, this one by Almonte, who crushed a homer well beyond the right-center field wall for a 6-0 lead.

Grant Green hit a solo homer for the Angels in the top of the sixth, but the Indians tacked on two more runs off Weaver in the bottom of the inning, a rally that started with Francisco Lindor’s double and Brantley’s intentional walk. Both runners advanced on a wild pitch, and Santana smacked a two-run single to right to make it 8-1.

Trout tripled high off the center-field wall in the first, singled to center in the fourth and doubled to left in the sixth. Needing a homer for the cycle, Trout blooped an RBI single to right in the eighth.