With win, Oakland 10 games over .500
CLEVELAND — Brett Anderson, facing the Indians for the first time in six years, managed to work magic against them in an occasionally messy outing.
Anderson, who came off the disabled list Sunday to make his first start since midMay, threw 96 pitches in fiveplus innings and worked out of trouble much of the day. He didn’t allow a run, however, and the A’s got home runs from Stephen Piscotty and Jed Lowrie in a 6-0 victory as Oakland won two of three in the series against AL Centralleading Cleveland.
“I hate to use the term ‘effectively wild,’ because he pitched well and got big outs when he needed to,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said of Anderson. “All in all, you have to consider it a successful performance.”
The A’s moved a seasonbest 10 games over .500 — the first time they’ve reached that mark since the end of the 2014 season — and have won or split seven consecutive series for the first time since a 7-0-2 series streak from May 17 through June 13, 2013. The A’s head to Houston to face the defending champion Astros, who lead the AL West by 3½ games over Seattle. Oakland is 1-8 against the Astros, who have outscored the A’s 70-28.
“Right now, we’re just playing,” Melvin said. “I don’t think we really care who we play. We have seven games before the break and we want to finish up strong.”
Piscotty, who provided the game-winning blow with a two-run shot in the 11th inning Saturday, mashed another two-run drive in the sixth
Sunday, and Lowrie, who also homered Saturday, tied his career high by hitting his 16th homer (13th on the road), a solo shot in the seventh. The A’s have hit a major-leaguebest 79 homers in 45 road games.
Khris Davis drove in the A’s first run with a two-out double in the first, and Dustin Fowler’s two-out infield single in the second sent in Matt Chapman with the second.
Davis, who was 3-for-5, extended his hitting streak to 10 games, during which he is batting .390. The Chronicle reported Sunday that the A’s are discussing a multiyear extension with the designated hitter, and Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic reported that the team is considering a twoyear extension with Lowrie. There have been no talks with Lowrie’s representatives, however.
Anderson, out with a left shoulder strain since May 18, allowed three hits — one a pop-up that was lost in the sun. He walked two and struck out three in earning his first victory of the year. He worked out of two sticky situations. In the second, the Indians had men at second and third with no outs, and Anderson coaxed a shallow flyball from Rajai Davis, struck out Roberto Perez and got Erik Gonzalez to pop up a 3-0 pitch. “I appreciated that,” Anderson said of Gonzalez swinging 3-0.
In the fourth, Anderson walked Perez to load the bases with two outs but got Gonzalez to ground out.
“It was kind of a weird game,” Anderson said. “There were some quick and efficient innings and there were some grinding, taxing innings. But anytime you can put up zeros against the division leader and a quality opponent ... it’s a positive.”
Anderson left with one on and no outs in the sixth, and Yusmeiro Petit gave up one hit before finishing the inning strikeout, foul out, strikeout. Petit went two innings and Ryan Buchter and Emilio Pagan one each in completing Oakland’s sixth shutout of the season.
Anderson is 3-0 with an 0.82 ERA against the Indians, whom he hadn’t seen since Aug. 27, 2012, when he combined with Ryan Cook and Grant Balfour on a two-hit shutout at Cleveland.
As Anderson came off the DL on Sunday, the A’s lost another starter. Paul Blackburn, rushed back into the rotation after missing the first two months of the season with a forearm strain, went on the DL with right elbow epicondylitis, which is more frequently known as tennis elbow.
A forearm injury coupled with elbow discomfort can be alarming, because the combination can signal ulnar-collateral ligament problems. Melvin said team doctors will see Blackburn in the Bay Area this week.
The A’s have six starters on the DL: Blackburn, Trevor Cahill (Achilles tendon), Daniel Mengden (foot sprain), Andrew Triggs (nerve discomfort, right arm), Daniel Gossett (elbow) and Jharel Cotton (Tommy John).
Cahill looks to be a strong possibility to start Thursday at Houston, pushing Edwin Jackson back to Friday at San Francisco. Mengden also could come off the DL before the All-Star break.
“It looks like we’re starting get guys back now, which will help,” Melvin said. “It’s basically a next-man-up kind of thing.”