LaPorta leads Tribe’s 11-3 win

CLEVELAND — It wasn’t Matt LaPorta’s first major-league hit. He got that back in May, a home run, one day after making his Indians debut.

His hit Thursday was “only” a double, but it drove in two runs as part of a seven-run rally that forced the exit of John Lackey and triggered an 11-3 win over the Angels at Progressive Field.

LaPorta has become the people’s choice. Fans have been pleading with Indians operatives to call him up from Columbus ever since it became clear in July that the rest of the season would be played out as an extended spring training camp. LaPorta was summoned Wednesday afternoon but didn’t arrive at the ballpark until about 8:30 at night.

Because LaPorta was the biggest name to emerge from the trade of CC Sabathia to the Brewers last summer, he has been the focus of the fans’ attention. In his first big-league stint, lasting three weeks, LaPorta batted .190 in 13 games.

This time around, manager Eric Wedge said LaPorta will play almost every day, either in left or right field. The fans don’t care which; they want to see him hit, and his double served to validate their faith in him. Now, he just has to do it again and again and again and again for about 15 years or until he’s traded.

When LaPorta stepped to the plate in the sixth inning, with two runs home, one out and runners at second and first, Lackey ran the count to 3-and-2, then delivered a breaking pitch that hung up just a little.

LaPorta whacked it hard to left near the foul line.

In the eighth, he delivered a fly ball just far enough into left field to score Travis Hafner with the Tribe’s eighth run, giving LaPorta a three-RBI game, his first.

As much as the Northeast Ohio sporting public wants to see LaPorta in action, he did not upstage another newcomer, Justin Masterson, who arrived in Cleveland as part of the deal that sent Victor Martinez to the Red Sox.

For most of the season, Masterson worked out of the Boston bullpen. Wedge and G.M. Mark Shapiro want to see if he can be more valuable as a starter, but he had to build up his arm strength.

In this, his third start for the Tribe, Masterson was permitted to throw 100-plus pitches, and he made the most of the opportunity. He lasted 61‚Ñ3 innings, giving up one unearned run on three hits and four walks.

Masterson’s final two walks and one of the hits came with one out in the seventh, when Wedge came to get him after his 110th pitch. It can be assumed that by then, he probably was feeling fatigue.

For most of Masterson’s outing, it was the Angels who got tired, tired of trying to square up his pitches. Masterson’s only problem inning was the first, mostly because Luis Valbuena botched Maicer Izturis’ ground ball for an error.