• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Reddick's 6 RBI power A's past Indians

May 17, 2014 - 4:58 AM Cleveland, OH (SportsNetwork.com) - Josh Reddick hit two homers, including a grand slam, and drove in a career-high six runs to help power the Oakland Athletics to an 11-1 victory over the Cleveland Indians in the opener of a three-game set at Progressive Field on Friday.

Josh Donaldson added a three-run blast and Jed Lowrie had a solo shot and two RBI for the A's, who have won seven of their last eight.

Lost in Oakland's power surge was Sonny Gray (5-1), who allowed just one run on two hits while tying a career high in strikeouts with nine in six innings.

Gray has tossed six innings or more and allowed three runs or fewer in each of his first nine starts, the longest such streak to start a season by an A's pitcher since at least 1914.

"Early on, he was fighting himself at least with his fastball command," A's manager Bob Melvin said of Gray. "His curveball was good all night. He was having trouble throwing his fastball where he wanted. Toward the end he started to catch up with his ball-strike ratio."

The recent struggles for Indians starter Zach McAllister (3-4) continued. He surrendered eight runs on five hits while walking three in just 1 1/3 innings, the shortest outing of his career. McAllister is 0-4 in his last five starts with an 8.72 ERA in that span.

"I haven't pitched my best," said McAllister. "Obviously you are going to have peaks and valleys. I have to get back to that middle ground and pitch better."

Nick Swisher's solo homer was one of just three hits for Cleveland, which has lost four of its last six contests.

Oakland erupted with an eight-run second inning after McAllister struck out the side in the first.

After a leadoff double by Brandon Moss to begin the frame, Yoenis Cespedes and Lowrie each singled, with Lowrie's hit driving in a run to tie the game at one. Following a walk, Reddick cleared the bases with his second career grand slam to give the A's a 5-1 cushion.

Donaldson added to the margin with a three-run shot to left field to chase McAllister from the mound, this coming after two back-to-back one-out walks.

Lowrie jumped in on the fun with a solo homer to begin the third to extend the lead to 9-1.

A two-run blast to right from Reddick off Carlos Carrasco gave Oakland an 11-1 lead in the seventh.

Swisher's homer -- his first since April 12th -- gave the Indians an early 1-0 lead in the first, but that's all they were able to manage off Gray and two relief pitchers.

Game Notes

Prior to the game, Indians optioned pitcher Danny Salazar to Triple-A Columbus and promoted pitcher Kyle Crockett to the Tribe ... Crockett made his big league debut, allowing one run on two hits over 1 1/3 innings ... A's outfielder Coco Crisp returned to the lineup after missing the last seven games with a neck strain ... Indians outfielder Michael Brantley has hit safely in 13 straight games at Progressive Field ... The A's have their best record (26-16) after 42 games since 1990 (30-12) ... Oakland has gone a season-high five consecutive games without an error.