A’s hand Indians 8th straight loss

A’s hand Indians 8th straight loss

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Dana Eveland doesn’t mind waiting in the wings but would like the chance to star. Eveland provided a good opening act Sunday.

Eveland pitched five strong innings in his first start since July 7 as the Oakland A’s matched their season high seven-game win streak by defeating the Cleveland Indians 11-4.

The A’s left-hander earned his first win since April 26 to improve to 2-3 for the season.

Eveland began the season as one of the A’s starters but lost his job after five starts. He moved to the bullpen but was then shipped to Triple-A Sacramento on May 5.

“Sinker, cutter combo,” said Eveland describing what he used to beat the Indians. “I think I threw about eight off speed pitches. I just threw sinkers and cutters pretty much the entire game.”

Adam Kennedy had a two-run homer among his three hits. Ryan Sweeney added two RBIs as the A’s improved to 12-2 in their last 14 games.

“My first two at bats weren’t very pretty,” Kennedy said. “But sort of figured it out after that. The offense has kind of an identity right now and we are having fun playing.”

Ryan Sweeney added two RBIs. Rajai Davis, Jack Cust, Scott Hairston and Chad Pennington each added two hits for the A’s.

Travis Hafner, Trevor Crowe and Shin-Soo Choo each drove in runs for the Indians, who lost their eighth straight.

Fausto Carmona (3-12) lost his fourth straight decision as he pitched 52‚Ñ3 innings and gave up nine runs on 10 hits while striking out two.

“We’re seeing his progress, but he’s got to do a better job of controlling damage there in the second and a better job of finishing an inning there in the sixth,” Indians manager Eric Wedge said.

Four different players drove in runs as the A’s scored five times in the second inning.

Carmona got himself in trouble by hitting Kurt Suzuki to start the inning off. Cust and Ellis loaded the bases on two bloop singles. Suzuki scored on a sacrifice fly by Daric Barton.

Hairston blooped another single to reload the bases. Left fielder Trevor Crowe misplayed Chad Pennington’s high pop up allowing Cust to score.

“I thought I had it,” Crowe said. “I’m a major league baseball player, I need to make it. If you get hit by lightning and the ball gets lost in the sun, you still need to catch pop-ups.”

Kennedy and Rajai Davis each singled home a run and Ryan Sweeney capped the inning with a run scoring ground out to make it 5-0.

Eveland gave back a run in the top of the fourth when he walked Choo to start the inning. He was moved to second on a ground out and scored on Hafner’s sharp single to left field.

Oakland added four more runs in the sixth on back-to-back doubles by Hairston and Pennington, Kennedy’s two run homer and double by Sweeney.