Guardians 4 - 3 Athletics
Final
  for this game

Indians hold off A's

Apr 21, 2012 - 6:01 AM

Video

Oakland, CA (Sports Network) - Jack Hannahan drove in three runs on Friday and the Indians downed the Athletics, 4-3, in the opener of a three-game series.

Shin-Soo Choo added an RBI single for Cleveland, which improved to 6-1 on its current nine-game road trip.

Ubaldo Jimenez (2-0) allowed two runs on six hits and five walks over six innings to earn the win and Chris Perez tossed a perfect ninth for his fifth save of the season.

Yoenis Cespedes went 3-for-4 with two RBI and Josh Reddick homered for Oakland, which saw its season-high three-game win streak come to an end. Graham Godfrey (0-3) gave up four runs on three hits and five walks over five innings in the loss.

"I just couldn't locate when I needed to," said Godfrey. "When you give them that many opportunities they are going to figure out a way to get some runs across."

Godfrey issued three walks to load the bases with one down in the second. Hannahan made it 1-0 with a sacrifice fly to right before Jason Donald lined out to first to end the inning.

The Indians failed to capitalize after loading the bases with two down in the bottom half, but tied the game in the third courtesy of Reddick's two-out blast to right.

Hannahan struck again in the fourth, scoring Travis Hafner and Shelley Duncan with a two-out double to left. An inning later, Jason Kipnis was hit by a pitch, stole second and scored on Choo's single for a 4-1 Cleveland lead.

Cespedes made it 4-2 in the home fifth, following Reddick's double with an RBI single. Seth Smith then drew a one-out walk, but he was caught stealing second and Jonny Gomes struck out with Cespedes on third to halt the threat.

Choo was thrown out at the plate by Smith to end the top of the seventh and Jemile Weeks led off the home half with a triple off of Tony Sipp. Cliff Pennington followed with a walk and Sipp was relieved after striking out Reddick. Cespedes greeted Joe Smith with a single, scoring Weeks and Gomes walked with two down to load the bases. But Joe Smith maintained the one-run lead by grounding out Kila Ka'aihue to end the inning.

Weeks hit a two-out double in the eighth but Vinnie Pestano retired Pennington before giving way to Perez in the ninth.

Game Notes

Cleveland began its road trip with a three-game sweep of Kansas City before taking two of three from the Mariners...The Athletics began a six-game homestand and will face the White Sox for three games after its series with Cleveland.






Related News