Carmona sharp as Indians subdue A’s

Associated Press

oakland, calif.

This is the Fausto Carmona the Cleveland Indians expect and need.

The right-hander, who pitched so poorly in 2009 that he was sent to the Arizona rookie league, looks a lot more like the 19-game winner he was three years ago.

Carmona shut down the Oakland Athletics by scattering seven hits over 7 1/3 innings and the Indians broke out of their scoring slump with a 6-1 victory Saturday.

“He really gave us a chance to get something going offensively, even if it was late in the game,” Cleveland manager Manny Acta said. “He threw strike one and continued to pound the strike zone regardless of their left-handed heavy lineup against him today.”

Mark Grudzielanek hit a tiebreaking RBI single with two outs in the eighth inning and the Indians scored five runs over the final two innings but it was Carmona’s day from the beginning.

Carmona (3-0) allowed only two runners past first base, both coming in the third inning when the A’s scored their run. Beyond that, the 6-foot-4 righty was stellar, striking out four with no walks while lowering his ERA to 2.96.

That’s exactly what the Indians were hoping for when they shipped Carmona to the Arizona rookie league last June. He spent his time there working on his mechanics, then picked up some key advice from former major league pitcher Jose Lima while pitching in the Dominican League.

Lima suggested Carmona shift his stance on the pitching mound from the right side of the rubber to the left to increase his effectiveness against left-handed hitters.

The results have been impressive. Carmona has three of Cleveland’s eight wins and called his win against Oakland his best outing of the season.

“I feel good,” Carmona said. “I worked on my mechanics and throwing strikes. That’s the key to the game for me. [Today] I was thinking about throwing strikes and keeping the ball down.”

Austin Kearns had three hits and three RBIs while Mike Redmond doubled and scored twice for Cleveland, which snapped a six-game losing streak to Oakland.