The Indians lost again Wednesday night -- but at least they scored. They succumbed to the Athletics, 6-1.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Indians lost again Wednesday night -- but at least they scored.
Oakland rode a five-run first inning and strong pitching by ace Trevor Cahill to a 6-1 victory at Progressive Field.
Paid attendance: 10,514. The lack of energy in the building was palpable.
The Indians (50-76) have scored four runs during a five-game skid. They avoided a 12th shutout defeat, and fifth against Oakland, by pushing across an unearned run in the fifth.
The Athletics (63-62) have won the first two of a three-game series. They prevailed, 5-0, on Tuesday. They are 6-2 in the season series.
Cahill (14-5, 2.43 ERA) gave up the one run on seven hits in seven innings. The right-hander walked two and struck out two. Tribe batters repeatedly struggled to square up his sinker.
If getting shut down by Cahill wasn't enough, the Tribe swallowed a tablespoon of embarrassment in the eighth. Lefty reliever Craig Breslow, who barely made a dent with Cleveland in 2008, struck out the side.
Oakland right-handed reliever Henry "Heat Miser'' Rodriguez opened the ninth by striking out Jayson Nix with a pitch clocked at 101 mph. Rodriguez then caught Trevor Crowe looking at a 101-mph pitch. Rodriguez completed the 101-mph hat trick by freezing Matt LaPorta.
The eight combined strikeouts by Oakland pitching accounted for the last eight Tribe outs.
The Indians lost despite their leadoff batter having reached in each of the first six innings. They grounded into three double plays -- Asdrubal Cabrera in the first and Crowe in the second and sixth.
Oakland's first-inning bonanza began after former Indian Coco Crisp grounded to second. Daric Barton drew his 79th walk of the season. Kurt Suzuki was hit by a pitch -- or was he? Indians manager Manny Acta briefly argued with plate umpire Paul Emmel that Mitch Talbot's pitch struck the knob of Suzuki's bat.
Jack Cust singled to right to drive in Barton. After Mark Ellis walked, Rajai Davis had an RBI single to left. Former Indian Kevin Kouzmanoff ripped a three-run double off the wall in center. Kouzmanoff leads the Athletics with 60 RBI.
Talbot stranded Kouzmanoff by retiring the next two. Talbot recovered nicely, breezing from the second through the fifth.
The Indians pulled within 5-1 in the fifth. Jason Donald led off with a grounder that third baseman Kouzmanoff failed to field for an error. Donald scored from second on a two-out single by Cabrera, but the Athletics caught Cabrera between first and second.
Kouzmanoff tripled off Tribe center fielder Michael Brantley's glove in the sixth and scored on a sacrifice fly.
Hector Ambriz relieved Talbot (8-11) to begin the seventh.