Bauer’s strong start lifts Indians

A key to his success was his fastball. He was able to maintain the velocity at or about 95 mph for all eight innings.

“My off-speed pitches are usually good, so when the fastball can complement, that’s nice,” Bauer said. “My (velocity) has been way up my last three starts. That has been encouraging. When it sits above 95, that’s way better. If I can continue doing that, I’ll be in a good spot.”

Manager Terry Francona said, “I thought he was very good. He looked to me like he got stronger as he went. Most of his strikeouts came later in the game.”

Seven of Bauer’s 10 strikeouts came from the fourth through the eighth inning.

The Indians entered the game with 73 runs against left-handed pitching, the most in the major leagues. They padded that total against Ryan Carpenter (0-1), who allowed six runs runs, five earned, in five innings.

With runners on first and third and nobody out in the first, Carpenter threw wildly to first for an error on a comebacker by Jose Ramirez. A run came home on that play, and Francisco Lindor followed with a sacrifice fly.

The Indians added three runs in the fourth, all on two-out hits by their 7-8-9 batters. Erik Gonzalez drove in a run with a single. Jason Kipnis followed with a double to make it 4-0, and he came home on a single by Roberto Perez.

Michael Brantley hit a solo homer in the fifth, and the Indians avoided a three-game sweep.

Cody Allen then pitched the ninth without incident to complete the five-hit shutout.

“We’ve just got to stay the course,” Allen said the bullpen. “Keep preparing, keep going out and competing to the best of your ability and throw pitches with conviction and the results will speak for themselves.”