But Oakland didn’t go quietly. He allowed a pair of one-out singles in the ninth, but struck out Jed Lowrie before Josh Reddick flied out to deep center. It was caught by Tyler Naquin, with his back pressed against the wall, for the final out of the game.
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“I think Naquin was probably the only guy from Cleveland who knew that ball wasn’t going to quite get out”, Allen said.
Oakland manager Bob Melvin praised Graveman’s outing. The Alabama native permitted only eight earned runs in 30 2/3 innings during his four-start winning streak and is 6-0 since a hard-luck loss to the New York Yankees on May 19. “It’s frustrating that that led to a big inning”.
The A’s packed all of their miscues into that one turbulent inning, otherwise playing sharp defense and getting back-to-back homers from Josh Reddick and Khris Davis to build a 3-0 lead. He wound up being charged with four runs (three earned), two of them scoring after he left the game. Teammates say that when Graveman is on, they like playing behind him because he throws strikes, generates ground balls and keeps the game moving along. He’s 1-1 with an 8.40 ERA in three starts.
Former Indian Marc Rzepczynski relieved to make Carlos Santana bat right-handed.
The Indians knocked Graveman out of the game in the bottom of the seventh with a rally started by the bottom of their order.
On the flip side, Marcus Semien’s fielding error in the seventh put Rajai Davis on base and jumpstarted Cleveland’s four-run rally.
Naquin lined a single to left field, moving Davis to second. Graveman has won four straight starts and hasn’t tasted defeat in more than two months while Bauer is looking to get back on track after a trio of hard outings on the heels of a three-game winning streak.The American League Central-best Indians – like Bauer – have also hit a rough patch and seen their lead over second-place Detroit shrink to 4 1/2 games after dropping four of five to AL East-leading Baltimore and NL East-best Washington.
Fantasy Impact: Graveman gave up six hits and walked two while striking out just one.
“He was cruising along, he gets the first guy out and Davis gets on”, Melvin said.
There was an error, a wild pitch, a pinch-hit single, a sacrifice fly and a bloop single by Jason Kipnis that hung in the air so long it looked like it had a parachute. Francisco Lindor would face Oakland relief ace Ryan Dull, but he wouldn’t have to do anything to give the Indians, for Dull uncorked a wild pitch, allowing Almonte to score easily (even with a poor break).
Cleveland are 15-5 in their last 20 home games and the over is 48-22-3 in their last 73 home games while the Indians are 22-5 in Tomlin’s last 27 starts.
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The A’s took the early lead when Reddick reached on an error and eventually scored on Billy Butler’s two-out single. The Indians and A’s have been subject to lots of trade speculation, and the A’s speculation took a dramatic turn Friday, when it was announced that left-hander Rich Hill will not make his scheduled start Sunday. Hill, who left his last start on July 17 against Toronto in the first inning with a blister, tested the finger in a throwing session on Friday and still felt discomfort.
