Gio Gonzalez continued his mastery of Cleveland hitters, shutting out Tribe hitters over seven innings while allowing 4 hits while striking out seven. In three outings last year, he didn't allow a run in 20.2 innings pitched, so after today's game, the Indians haven't scored on Gonzalez in their last 27.2 innings against the Oakland left-hander.So while the Indians may have been tired after finishing a 16-inning game just 12 hours before, they also were facing a pitcher whom they haven't been able to solve. in two seasons.

Fausto Carmona had to be perfect for the Indians to entertain thoughts of winning the game. He wasn't. He allowed eight base runners in 6 innings of work, though he managed to keep Oakland off the board until the fifth inning, when singles by Cliff Pennington and Coco Crisp gave the A's a 2-0 lead. Carmona pitched into the seventh, but two costly errors led to two more runs. After Anthony Recker led off the inning with a double, Eric Sogard laid down a sacrifice bunt; Carmona thought the ball would go foul, but it didn't. Jermile Weeks then lined a ball to left fielder Jerad Head, but Head let the ball bounce off his glove, and a scored with an out being recorded. Cliff Pennington then reached on what was ruled an infield hit, but Jason Donald should have recorded an out by throwing to first instead of trying to get a force at second. That was Carmona's last hitter.

The Indians had added two Columbus relievers before the game to help a tired bullpen, and they use the two to finish things off. Both Nick Hagadone and Corey Kluber made their major-league debuts today; Hagadone, who came over from Boston in the Victor Martinez trade, allowed three eighth inning runs, though he wasn't around when they scored. He loaded the bases with two out in the eighth, and Corey Kluber (Jake Westbrook deal) allowed two singles to score the runners Hagadone left behind.

The Indians didn't lose ground to Tigers, who lost to the Royals 11-8. They did, however, fall back into second place with the White Sox, who didn't play.

via www.fangraphs.com