• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Athletics-Indians Preview

Jul 5, 2009 - 4:18 AM By MIKE LIPKA STATS Writer

Oakland (33-45) at Cleveland (32-49), 1:05 p.m. EDT

The Cleveland Indians have swept one series all season. They'll have ace Cliff Lee on the mound as they try to do it for the second time Sunday.

Last season's AL Cy Young Award winner, however, will be trying to rebound from his worst outing in more than three years as the Indians finish their series with the sinking Oakland Athletics.

Lee (4-7, 3.39 ERA) has followed up his career year of 2008 by being one of the few bright spots on a staff that owns a major league-worst 5.28 ERA.

Perhaps the steadiest pitcher in baseball over the last two seasons, he had completed at least five innings in 47 straight starts - the longest such streak in the majors - going into Tuesday's outing against the Chicago White Sox.

That run ended when the left-hander gave up seven runs and 11 hits in three-plus innings of an 11-4 loss, his shortest start since lasting 2 2-3 innings in an 11-0 loss to the White Sox on May 29, 2006.

"It was a bad day," Lee said. "That's not in my job description. I'm supposed to go deep into games and give up less runs. It seemed like they knew what was coming with every pitch. One of those games."

He hasn't experienced a game like that against Oakland, going 4-1 with a 2.39 ERA in nine outings. Last year, he posted a 0.61 ERA in winning both of his starts against the A's.

The Indians (33-49) dropped 13 of 15 coming into the weekend, but they've racked up 20 runs and 25 hits in the first two games against Oakland. Cleveland has done it without a contribution from slugger Victor Martinez, who is 0 for 9 in the series.

After Shin-Soo Choo's seven-RBI game Friday, Grady Sizemore and Ben Francisco homered in Saturday's win. Luis Valbuena and Francisco, the last two hitters in Cleveland's lineup, each had three hits.

Francisco went 3 for 4 from the No. 9 spot in Friday's 15-3 victory.

"I've always said that when we have our guys healthy, we're capable of hitting one through nine in the order," manager Eric Wedge said.

One more victory Sunday would give Cleveland its first sweep since winning four straight against Tampa Bay from May 25-28.

"There's a half season left and we have the talent to put a run together," Sizemore said.

The Indians have won their last six games against Oakland dating to last year, all of them at Progressive Field. The A's (33-46) have dropped eight of their last 10 overall and have the second-worst record in the AL behind Cleveland.

Oakland's Gio Gonzalez (0-2, 7.27) has lost both of his starts in his latest stint in the majors, although he showed some improvement Tuesday against Detroit, allowing three runs in five innings of a 5-3 defeat.

"I gave them five good, strong innings," Gonzalez said. "It's a stepping stone, and I'll keep learning from all this."