Indians target sweep of A's
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Fausto Carmona tries to pitch the Cleveland Indians to a game sweep of the Oakland Athletics this afternoon at Progressive Field.
The Indians posted a thrilling win on Wednesday, as Jack Hannahan's RBI single in the 16th inning lifted the Tribe to a 4-3 victory. Hannahan had homered twice earlier in the game for Cleveland, which hasn't pulled off a four-game sweep of the A's since turning the trick in Oakland from April 26-29, 1999.
"Huge night," Indians manager Manny Acta said of Hannahan.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Hannahan's big hit ended Cleveland's third game of 14 innings or more in a 22- day span and gave the Indians their fifth win in six tries and kept them 5 1/2 games back of the Detroit Tigers in the American League Central.
Frank Herrmann (4-0) tossed four perfect innings as the last available man in the Cleveland bullpen.
"He just gave us a huge lift," said Acta.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Josh Outman (3-4) was tagged with the loss and threw 1 1/3 innings to punctuate a strong effort by the Oakland bullpen in relief of starter Rich Harden, who gave up three runs in six innings.
Carmona, meanwhile, will try to bounce back from an awful showing his last time out. The erratic righty gave up six runs (five earned) in 6 1/3 innings to Kansas City on Saturday, but did not get a decision in his team's 8-7 win. He is 6-12 on the year with a 4.85 ERA.
Carmona beat the A's back on May 3 and is 4-5 lifetime against them with a 4.95 ERA in 11 games (10 starts).
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The A's will turn to left-hander Gio Gonzalez, who is 11-11 with a 3.35 ERA. Gonzalez won his second straight start after a five-start losing streak on Friday in Boston, as he held the Red Sox to four runs and seven hits in 5 2/3 innings.
"[Boston] came in here hot," Gonzalez said. "They were swinging good, and the best I could do was hold them down a little bit. I give all the credit to the offense and the bullpen. I was just trying to minimize the damage as much as possible."
Gonzalez is a perfect 4-0 in five starts versus the Tribe and has allowed just three earned runs in 30 1/3 innings against them.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Cleveland took two of three from the A's earlier in the year.