Eveland shines in first start since July 7, helps A's to 7th win in row

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Dana Eveland doesn't mind waiting in the wings but would like the chance to star. Eveland provided a good opening act Sunday.

Eveland pitched five strong innings in his first start since July 7 as the Oakland A's matched their season high seven-game win streak by defeating the Cleveland Indians 11-4.

The A's left-hander earned his first win since April 26 to improve to 2-3 for the season. Eveland began the season as one of the A's starters but lost his job after five starts. He moved to the bullpen but was then shipped to Triple-A Sacramento on May 5.

"Sinker, cutter combo," said Eveland describing what he used to beat the Indians. "I think I threw about eight off-speed pitches. I just threw sinkers and cutters pretty much the entire game."

Eveland learned how to throw the cutter while Sacramento.

"It's been a savior," said Eveland. "It's the missing link in a great career that's what I'm hoping for. It's been great so far. Throwing it in Triple-A this year and in my last three starts and it's been wonderful. It's a lot of outs and soft action which is what you want."

"Same thing today, I got swings and misses on it and I got soft ground balls and soft fly balls."

Eveland gave up one run on five hits. He struck out two.

"He had a pretty respectable outing," A's manager Bob Geren. "He threw strikes and he worked a little quicker. He kept us in the game and we got some runs for him and he kept throwing strikes and he got deep enough into the game after being off for a few weeks that was about the best he could do."

As good as Eveland was, the offense was even better.

Adam Kennedy had a two-run homer among his three hits. Ryan Sweeney added two RBIs as the A's improved to 12-2 in their last 14 games.

"My first two at bats weren't very pretty," said Kennedy. "But sort of figured it out after that. The offense has kind of an identity right now and we are having fun playing."

Sweeney added two RBIs. Rajai Davis, Jack Cust, Scott Hairston and Cliff Pennington each added two hits for the A's.

Travis Hafner, Trevor Crowe and Shin-Soo Choo each drove in runs for the Indians, who lost their eighth straight.

Fausto Carmona (3-12) lost his fourth straight decision as he pitched 5 2/3 innings and gave up nine runs on 10 hits while striking out two.

"We're seeing his progress, but he's got to do a better job of controlling damage there in the second and a better job of finishing an inning there in the sixth," Indians manager Eric Wedge said.

Four different players drove in runs as the A's scored five times in the second inning.

Carmona got himself in trouble by hitting Kurt Suzuki to start the inning off. Cust and Ellis loaded the bases on two bloop singles. Suzuki scored on a sacrifice fly by Daric Barton.

Hairston blooped another single to reload the bases. Crowe misplayed Pennington's high pop up allowing Cust to score.

"I thought I had it," Crowe said. "I'm a major league baseball player, I need to make it. If you get hit by lightning and the ball gets lost in the sun, you still need to catch pop-ups."

Kennedy and Davis each singled home a run and Sweeney capped the inning with a run scoring ground out to make it 5-0.

Eveland gave back a run in the top of the fourth when he walked Choo to start the inning. He was moved to second on a ground out and scored on Hafner's sharp single to left field.

Jerry Blevins relieved Eveland in the sixth and gave up a walk to Jhonny Peralta to begin the inning and two outs later, Crowe drove a triple to center to that scored Peralta. It was Crowe's second triple of the four-game series and made the score 5-2.

Oakland added four more runs in the sixth on back-to-back doubles by Hairston and Pennington, Kennedy's two run homer and double by Sweeney.

Choo drove in the Indians third run with a sacrifice fly in the top of the seventh.

Game notes
Since June 1, the A's Davis has the majors' fifth-best batting average at .339. ... Henry Rodriguez and John Meloan are wearing numbers 63 and 65 which have never been worn before any A's player since they moved West in 1968. ... The Indians' Choo is tied for fourth in outfield assists in the A.L. with 11. ... Cleveland is 5-55 when scoring three runs or less. ... Tribe manager Eric Wedge said before the game that Matt LaPorta would be considered the favorite to win the first baseman's job next spring depending on what the team did this offeseason. ... It was the seventh time this season Suzuki had been hit by a pitch.