Kluber tosses seven scoreless innings as Indians blank A's
CLEVELAND -- Corey Kluber pitched seven scoreless innings and Mike Napoli homered to lead the Cleveland Indians to an 8-0 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Sunday at Progressive Field.
The Indians swept the three-game weekend series.
Kluber (10-8) gave up five hits, with seven strikeouts and two walks.
The A's, who were outscored 19-6 in the three games, went 2-4 on their road trip to Texas and Cleveland.
Oakland starter Sonny Gray came into the game with a record of 2-0 and a 0.64 ERA in four career starts against the Indians. Gray (5-10) was removed from the game after 3 1/3 innings, having given up seven runs and eight hits. His 5.43 ERA, which was already the highest in the American League, climbed several more points to 5.84.
Gray retired the first six batters he faced, but the Indians roughed him up for seven runs and eight hits in the next two innings.
Tyler Naquin led off the bottom of the third with a single and he went to second on a single by Abraham Almonte. Roberto Perez drew a walk to load the bases.
Gray struck out Carlos Santana, but Jason Kipnis singled to right field, scoring Naquin and Almonte with the first two runs of the game. Francisco Lindor followed with a sacrifice fly, scoring Perez to make it 3-0.
Mike Napoli then put an exclamation point on the rally with a towering home run over the wall in left-center field for a two-run homer, his team-leading 24th, which extended the lead to 5-0. It was also Napoli's 1,000th career hit.
The first five batters Gray faced in the fourth inning reached base, leading Oakland manager Bob Melvin to go to his bullpen.
Lonnie Chisenhall led off the fourth with a single. Naquin singled to right, but Chisenhall was thrown out trying go to third on a throw by right fielder Josh Reddick. Almonte singled, moving Naquin to third, and Perez also singled, scoring Naquin and giving Cleveland a 6-0 lead.
Santana then drew a walk, loading the bases, and Melvin had seen enough. Gray gave way to reliever Daniel Coulombe, who was greeted by a sacrifice fly by Kipnis, scoring Almonte to make it 7-0.
Cleveland kept pouring it on in the fifth inning, which began with a walk by Napoli and a double by Jose Ramirez, moving Napoli to third. Two batters later, Almonte lifted a sacrifice fly to left field, scoring Napoli to stretch the lead to 8-0.
The closest Oakland came to scoring was in the seventh inning when the A's had runners at second and third with one out. But Kluber retired Max Muncy on a popout and Ryon Healy on a fly ball to end the inning.
NOTES: LHP Andrew Miller, acquired by the Indians from the Yankees for four minor league prospects, is expected to be in uniform on Monday. Traded to New York in the deal were OF Clint Frazier, LHP Justus Sheffield, RHP Ben Heller and RHP J.P. Feyereisen. ... To make room on the Indians' 40-man roster for Miller, OF Joey Butler was designated for assignment. ... The Indians' agreed-upon deal with Milwaukee in which they would have sent four minor league prospects to the Brewers for C Jonathan Lucroy, fell through when Lucroy exercised a clause in his contract that gave him veto power over trades to a limited number of teams. Cleveland was one of the teams on Lucroy's no-trade list. ... Entering Sunday, Athletics OF Coco Crisp led the majors with a .436 batting average with runners in scoring position. ... The A's currently have 13 players on the disabled list. They have used the DL 22 times this year, which marks the sixth time in the last 10 years they have used the DL 20 or more times in a season.