CLEVELAND — The Oakland A’s must know how to party better than the Indians.
Jerad Head can't come up with a single hit by Oakland Athletics' Ryan Sweeney during the eighth inning yesterday. (AP photo.)
In a Thursday afternoon affair at Progressive Field, it was Cleveland that looked hungover from a 16-inning marathon the night before, failing to hit and failing to field in a 7-0 loss.
The game began just over 12 hours after the completion of the Indians’ 4-3 win Wednesday night — the second-longest game in Progressive Field history — and the hometown team was weary.
“I think everybody’s tired this time of year,” said Indians second baseman Jason Donald, whose team managed just five singles in a loss that prevented it from sweeping the four-game series and gaining ground on first-place Detroit. “It’s just the extent of how tired you are. They played just as many innings as we played (Wednesday). It’s not an excuse you can use.”
Besides, the Indians already had a built-in excuse. They were facing left-hander Gio Gonzalez.
Gonzalez, Oakland’s lone All-Star, continued his mastery of Cleveland, tossing seven shutout innings, while allowing just four hits and striking out seven. It extended his scoreless streak against the Indians to 27 2/3 innings.
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In six career starts against Cleveland, Gonzalez is a staggering 5-0 with a 0.72 ERA.
“Gio was tough on us again today,” Indians manager Manny Acta said. “Even when we have a full deck of cards, we don’t match up well against him. He usually cruises against us, and he did it again today.”
Gonzalez permitted just two runners to advance to second base, none to third.
“It seemed like he threw all his pitches for strikes today,” said Donald, who went 0-for-3 against Gonzalez, striking out in his first two at-bats. “He made his pitches when he had to.”
The sparkling effort from Oakland’s ace trumped a satisfactory one from Cleveland starter Fausto Carmona, who allowed four runs (three earned) on eight hits over six innings.
Carmona was derailed by the lack of offense and some poor defense in the seventh inning, but ultimately it came down to Gonzalez and the Oakland bullpen stymying Indians hitters.
“I thought Fausto threw the ball very well for us,” Acta said. “It didn’t matter how well he threw. We weren’t going to score any runs.”
The loss put a damper on the end of an 11-game homestand that saw the Indians take consecutive series from Kansas City and Oakland, while winning five of the last seven games.
“I want to win them all but I can’t complain about these guys winning three of four and winning five of seven games to finish the homestand,” Acta said.
Still, with less than a month left in the regular season, the resilient Indians remain 5 1/2 games behind Detroit in the Central Division standings, with injuries mounting at an inopportune time.
Never this season has the deck seemed so stacked against them.
“We’re hanging in there,” said Acta, who expects to get Shin-Soo Choo, Grady Sizemore and Travis Hafner back before the year is complete. “We all know what we’re facing and what we have in front of us. There’s no time to complain. We just have to keep getting after it.
“Maybe the deck will get a couple more cards in a few weeks and give us a lift.”
Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him on Twitter.
