McAllister at low point after eight-run inning

CLEVELAND — Zach McAllister’s downward spiral might have reached rock bottom.

The Cleveland Indians right-hander allowed eight runs, including a grand slam by Josh Reddick, in 11⁄ innings last night, and

3 the Oakland Athletics cruised to an 11-1 victory.

All eight runs, all scored in the second inning, were earned, tying a career high for McAllister (3-4), who was knocked out of the game when Josh Donaldson chased him with a three-run homer.

The outing was the shortest of McAllister’s 59 major league starts. Since posting his last victory on April 21, he is 0-4 with an 8.72 ERA in five starts.

“I’m trying my hardest, but baseball is a game of peaks and valleys, and I’m down right now,” said McAllister, who started the season 3-0 with a 2.28 ERA in four starts. “I wasn’t able to make any adjustments, I fell behind in counts and they were able to get some balls in play and hit them hard.”

Oakland sent 11 batters to the plate in the second, its biggest inning of the season. McAllister had struck out the side in the first, and he went into the second with a lead courtesy of a solo homer by Nick Swisher.

Indians manager Terry Francona said he stuck with his starter as long as he could, but needs McAllister to take a hard look at himself going forward.

“He’s going to have to be strong enough to look at these numbers of late and remind himself how good he is,” Francona said.

Left-hander Kyle Crockett, who was called up before the game from double-A Akron, made his big-league debut in relief of McAllister. He went 11⁄

3 innings, allowing a homer by Jed Lowrie.