Indians, Corey Kluber dominate A’s 8-0 to complete sweep

The Indians and Corey Kluber had an easy time with the Oakland A’s on Sunday afternoon, cruising to an 8-0 win that completed a three-game sweep.

With the win, the Indians improved to 60-42 and still own the American League’s best record.  

Kluber (10-8, 3.27 ERA), who has been rounding into ace form over his last couple starts, continued that trend with seven scoreless innings in which he allowed five hits and struck out seven.

“That was nice,” said Indians manager Terry Francona on Kluber’s outing. “And he came out of the shoot firing strikes, got a couple early strikeouts. Usually with Klubes when he gets off to that good start and he feels good, he continues it. He was really good.”

Offensively, the Indians beat up A’s (47-58) starting pitcher Sonny Gray (5-10, 5.84 ERA), who hasn’t been his normal self for much of the year.

The Indians put together a five-run third inning that, with Kluber on the mound, left little doubt. Two singles and a walk loaded the bases and with one out, Jason Kipnis singled to right field to score two runs. Francisco Lindor added a sacrifice fly to make it 3-0, and Mike Napoli followed with a two-run home run to left field, his 24th of the season. It was also Napoli’s 1,000th career hit.

In the fourth, the Indians added two more with a run-scoring single by Roberto Perez and a sacrifice fly off the bat of Kipnis. Abraham Almonte made it 8-0 in the fifth with another sacrifice fly, this one scoring Napoli, who walked to open the inning.

Gray looked like his old self in the first two innings, but the Indians were able to capitalize on opportunities in the third and fourth.

“I look at his numbers and I’m trying to figure out where the runs are coming from,” Francona said. “Maybe today is another example, because I thought out of the shoot he looked [like] the same old Sonny Gray—breaking ball, fastball, cutting it—and kind of slicing through us. And then we didn’t just score, we broke through. And then Nap hits the next one, so obviously it helps us.”

Carlos Santana left the game in the ninth inning after his right hamstring began cramping following a swing. He stayed in the game to finish his at-bat but didn’t come back out to play first base.

“We’ve all had that, it’s not fun,” Francona said. “He’s not hurt, it just hurt. And then it kind of came back again. Just for the time being, it kind of hurts, it kind of locks you up. He’ll be OK.”

The Indians have now won four of their five games since returning home from their extended road trip due to the Republican National Convention.