CLEVELAND — The Oakland A’s must know how to party better than the Indians.

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.

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, whose club is expected 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. Fan him on Facebook and follow him on Twitter.

CLEVELAND — Thanks to a depleted bullpen from a 16-inning marathon the night before, the Indians made a flurry of moves prior to their afternoon affair with Oakland on Thursday.

On the first day that major league rosters could expand to 40 players, the Indians recalled pitchers Corey Kluber and Nick Hagadone from Triple-A Columbus. Because Hagadone had not been back in the minors for the required 10 days after being sent down, the Indians had to place a player on the disabled list for the right-hander to return.

The victim was right fielder Shin-Soo Choo, who has been sidelined by a left oblique injury, and was still close to two weeks away from returning.

“The fastest Choo could have made it back was a day or two before we expected,” Indians manager Manny Acta said. “It wasn’t worth taking the risk with our bullpen. It was the right move.”

The Indians are also expected to recall right-handed reliever Josh Judy from Columbus today to join them for their three-game series at Kansas City.

Thanks to the lopsided score and taxed bullpen, Hagadone and Kluber made their big league debuts Thursday, both under unusual circumstances.

Hagadone relieved starter Fausto Carmona with the bases loaded and no outs in the seventh inning and retired all three batters he faced before allowing a pair of runs in the eighth. Kluber, a career starter, followed Hagadone to make his first relief appearance of the season, allowing two hits and striking out two in 1 1/3 innings.

“(Hagadone) really showed a good heartbeat today,” Acta said. “That was impressive. It was a good start for them and it gave the bullpen some rest.”

Hagadone, a hard-throwing left-hander acquired in a trade with Boston for Victor Martinez in 2009, is a combined 6-4 with a 2.83 ERA and 76 strikeouts in 54 games (70 innings) for Columbus and Double-A Akron.

Kluber, acquired from San Diego last year in a three-team trade that sent Jake Westbrook to St. Louis, is 7-10 with a 5.65 ERA in 26 starts for Columbus.

Center it

Grady Sizemore (right knee) was expected to continue his rehab assignment with Akron on Thursday, playing six innings in center field.

Sizemore went 0-for-3 as the Aeros’ designated hitter in his rehab debut Wednesday.

Scuffling shortstop

As the Indians pull into a pivotal final month of the season, All-Star shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera is slumping.

Cabrera, who is tied with Carlos Santana for the team lead in homers (21) and leads the club with 78 RBIs, is batting just .151 (8-for-53) over his last 13 games. He is hitting .259 (58-for-224) in 57 games since June 26.

Next up

Justin Masterson (10-8, 2.83 ERA) opens the series against the Royals tonight (8:10), opposing LHP Bruce Chen (10-5, 3.94), while David Huff (2-2, 2.08) goes for the Indians on Saturday (7:10 p.m.) against RHP Luke Hochevar (9-10, 4.97).

Jeanmar Gomez (1-2, 4.55) starts the series finale Sunday (2:10 p.m.), the Royals countering with LHP Jeff Francis (5-14, 4.64).

Rehabbing Rondon

One time prized pitching prospect, right-hander Hector Rondon, began a rehab assignment with Class A Mahoning Valley on Wednesday, allowing a run on two hits and striking out one in two innings of the Scrappers’ 6-2 loss to Williamsport.

Rondon, 23, was Cleveland’s minor league pitcher of the year in 2009 before elbow problems in 2010 led to Tommy John surgery last Aug. 25.

Minor details

Columbus first baseman Beau Mills had a big game Wednesday in a 12-4 win at Louisville. Cleveland’s first-round draft pick in 2007 went 4-for-5 with his sixth home run, a double, two runs and an RBI. He began the season at Akron and entered Thursday batting .250 with six homers and 17 RBIs in 33 games since his promotion. … It’s been a rough first full professional season for outfielder LeVon Washington but he had a positive night Wednesday in Class A Lake County’s 7-3 loss to West Michigan, going 2-for-5 with a triple. He is batting just .209 with three homers, 18 RBIs and 14 stolen bases in 74 games for the Captains.

Roundin’ third

The 16 innings Cleveland and Oakland played Wednesday accounted for the second-longest game at Progressive Field and equaled the longest game in the majors. … The win Wednesday was the Indians’ 33rd comeback victory of the season, which ranked second in the American League to Boston’s 37. It was Cleveland’s 11th walk-off win and 22nd in its last at-bat. The 22 last-at-bat wins were tied with Atlanta for the most in the majors through Wednesday. … Tonight, 8:10, STO/WTAM 1100-AM.

Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com. Fan him on Facebook and follow him on Twitter.

The Indians failed to complete the four-game sweep of Oakland, losing 7-0 Thursday afternoon at Progressive Field.

Fausto Carmona started for Cleveland and allowed four runs on eight hits over six innings.

The Indians managed just five hits on the day, two of them from No. 9 hitter Lou Marson.

CLEVELAND — It was a marathon milestone Wednesday for the Indians.

The Indians' Jack Hannahan, second from right, is mobbed by teammates after hitting a single off Oakland Athletics' Josh Outman in the 16th inning last night. (AP photo.)

Playing in the 1,400th game in the history of Jacobs/Progressive Field, Cleveland and Oakland needed 16 innings to complete the Indians’ 4-3 victory.

In the end, which came a little more than five hours after it began, there was no surprise who the hero for Cleveland was — Jack Hannahan, who stayed hot with a monster night that included the game-winning hit.

Hannahan’s one-out single up the middle off Oakland’s Josh Outman scored a sliding Cord Phelps to touch off a long-awaited celebration.

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“It was a long day, but it was worth it at the end,” said manager Manny Acta, whose team won for the sixth time in seven games to remain 5½ games behind first-place Detroit, while moving back into second place a half-game in front of the White Sox.

It was the third time this season that the Indians have played at least 14 innings, with the lengthy affair qualifying for the second time in park history that Cleveland has played at least 16 innings.

Nearly all of the credit goes to Hannahan, who drove in three of Cleveland’s runs, with the first two RBIs coming on a pair of solo home runs — one in the second inning and the other in the sixth.

“Jack Hannahan had a huge night,” Acta said of his third baseman, who has been the Indians’ hottest hitter of late, batting .429 (21-for-49) with three homers and 13 RBIs over his last 13 games.

Hannahan homered in consecutive games for the first time in his career.

“I’m a streaky hitter and I’ve been through this before,” said Hannahan, who entered the season as a .224 hitter in two-plus seasons. “I’m just seeing the ball really well.”

Neither starting pitcher, Cleveland’s Ubaldo Jimenez nor Oakland’s Rich Harden, figured in the decision, with both producing nearly identical lines.

Jimenez allowed three runs on six hits (one home run) over six innings, while walking two and striking out six. The only difference on Harden’s line were the two homers he served up to Hannahan.

Jimenez, who entered the night allowing just one earned run in two starts over 15 innings at home since being acquired in a trade with Colorado, scuffled early, but got better as the game wore on.

He allowed single runs in the second through fourth innings before striking out six of the last seven batters he faced. He fanned five straight from the last out in the fourth until the first out in the sixth.

With both bullpens rising to the occasion in place of the starters, neither team had many opportunities late, but the Indians blew a golden one an inning before they won it.

Jason Donald’s double started the 15th, accounting for the first Cleveland hit since a leadoff single in the seventh by Lou Marson. Donald advanced to third on a fly ball from Jerad Head, but Marson struck out and, after a walk to Ezequiel Carrera, Kosuke Fukudome fanned as well to end the inning.

“We had opportunities to get it done but they didn’t roll over,” Acta said. “That’s the main thing. As long as we win, it’s all good.”

The Indians improved to 783-617 all-time at Progressive Field.

With the Indians’ bullpen depleted, the club will most likely add a pitcher or two from Triple-A Columbus for the series finale today (12:05 p.m.). This is the first day major league rosters can expand to 40 players.

“We’re probably going to have some reinforcements here (today),” Acta said.

Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him on Twitter.