Indians Vs. A’s: Cleveland Takes Series In Extras

The Cleveland Indians are the surprise of the young baseball season, and it usually takes a road trip against tough teams to show if a surprise team is for real. The Indians passed a big test on Thursday afternoon, taking the rubber match of a three-game series on the road against the Oakland A’s, winning in twelve innings, 4-3.

Both starting pitchers were stingy. Indians starter Jeanmar Gomez went 5-1/3 innings, giving up one run while walking two and striking out one. Brett Anderson was even better, pitching a full nine innings and allowing only seven hits. The Indians strung hits together off Anderson in the sixth. Lou Marson and Michael Brantley singled, with Brantley moving into scoring position when Ryan Sweeney threw to third in an attempt to get Marson. Asdrubal Cabrera blooped a ball down the left-field line for a single that gave Cleveland a 2-1 lead. Sweeney then made up for the earlier throw, ending the inning by cutting down Cabrera at home.

The A’s came back in the eighth, with Ryan Sweeney dumping a double just inside the left-field foul line to score Conor Jackson and tie the game at 2-2. That score held until the twelfth, when Oakland reliever Craig Breslow allowed a single and a walk before former Oakland utility player Jack Hannahan singled home the go-ahead run. There were approximately 1.6 hard-hit balls in the entire game, but the Indians timed their bloops better.

Closer Chris Perez had a stressful bottom of the twelfth, but he got Hideki Matsui to pop up with two runners on to end the game.

The A’s will go to Kansas City, while the Indians will travel south to Los Angeles where the Angels don’t play, so they’ll eventually have to go even further south to Anaheim.