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Indians seek to extend successful road start with sweep in Oakland

Apr 22, 2012 - 2:48 PM

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(Sports Network) - The Cleveland Indians wrap up what has been a terrific road trip this afternoon by trying to complete a three-game sweep of the Oakland Athletics at the Coliseum.

The Indians improved to 7-1 on the trip on Saturday, as Jason Kipnis had a two-run triple among his four hits and Cleveland rolled to a 5-1 win.

Kipnis also had an RBI single and scored on a wild pitch for the Indians, who have won seven games on a road swing for the first time since Sept. of 2007 (7-3).

Another win today would mark the first time in franchise history the team completed a road trip of at least nine games with only one loss.

"This team's rolling right now. We got a lot of confidence going. We're getting used to winning," Kipnis said.

Jeanmar Gomez (1-0) allowed just four hits and a run over 5 1/3 innings. The A's put two men in scoring position in the ninth, but Chris Perez retired pinch-hitter Kila Ka'aihue on a fly ball to center to secure his sixth save of the year.

Brandon McCarthy (0-3) gave up 10 hits and a pair of runs over seven frames. Yoenis Cespedes drove in the lone Oakland score with a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning.

The 47 runs Oakland has scored this season are the fewest ever by an Oakland team through 16 games. The previous low was 50 in 1970. The A's have also been held to one run or less six times this season.

"We haven't swung the bats particularly well when [McCarthy's] pitching," Athletics second baseman Jemile Weeks said. "We going to try to pick it up when he's out there and do better."

Hoping to deliver the Tribe's first sweep of the A's since May of 2008, Justin Masterson will take the hill on the heels of a horrific outing his last time out. The Seattle Mariners hammered the right-hander for eight runs in just 3 2/3 frames, ballooning his ERA to nearly four runs to 6.48. Masterson received a no-decision, though, as his team pulled out a 9-8 win.

Masterson is 1-2 with a 5.73 ERA in seven games (three starts).

Oakland, meanwhile, will counter with righty Tyson Ross, who was impressive in his season debut, but walked away with nothing to show for it. Ross gave up two runs and seven hits in six innings on Tuesday in Anaheim, but did not get a decision in his team's 5-3 win.

"Sometimes, I try to be too fine and make a perfect pitch, rather than a well- executed pitch," Ross said. "That's good enough."

Ross has pitched to a 1.08 ERA in 8 1/3 innings versus the Indians.

Cleveland was 5-2 last season versus the A's.






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