Cleveland, OH (Sports Network) - Gio Gonzalez pitched seven stellar shutout innings to lead the Oakland Athletics to a 5-0 victory over the Cleveland Indians in the opener of a three-game series.
Gonzalez (11-8) allowed five hits and struck out seven for the Athletics, who opened a 10-game road trip and won for the fifth time in their last seven games. Jack Cust and Jeff Larish both belted a two-run homer in the victory.Coco Crisp finished 3-for-5 with a homer and two runs scored for Oakland.
Fausto Carmona started on the mound and suffered the loss for Cleveland, which has dropped four straight and six of its last seven games overall. Carmona (11-12) was charged with four runs on nine hits with five strikeouts and two walks over 6 2/3 innings.
The visitors opened the scoring in the second inning. Rajai Davis hit a two- out single and Larish belted his first home run of the season over the wall in center field.
Cleveland's first hit of the game was a two-out single by Matt LaPorta in the bottom of the fourth. That base knock put runners on first and second -- Shelley Duncan walked with one out earlier in the stanza. Andy Martefollowed LaPorta and laced a single to shallow right field to load the bases, but Trevor Crowe grounded out.
Crisp led off the fifth inning with his sixth homer of the season for a 3-0 advantage.
In the home portion of the fifth, the Tribe had runners on first and second with two outs, but Duncan looked at a called third strike.
Oakland added to its lead in the seventh. Crisp led off with a double, then with two outs, Tony Sipp entered from the Cleveland bullpen to face Cust, who belted a fastball over the wall in right-center field.
Gonzalez worked out of trouble in the bottom of the seventh. He yielded a leadoff single to Crowe and then plunked Jason Donald in the foot with one out to put two runners on base. However, Gonzalez fanned Asdrubal Cabrera and induced an inning-ending grounder off the bat of Shin-Soo Choo.
Oakland reliever Michael Wuertz worked a scoreless eighth and Jerry Blevins tossed a 1-2-3 ninth to close it out.
The Indians have also now lost eight of their last 10...Carmona lost his fourth straight start and fell to 3-5 (nine starts) for his career against the A's...Gonzalez lowered his 2010 ERA to 3.24 and remained perfect for his career against the Indians (4-0)...Oakland has won 10 of the last 14 matchups between these teams...The Tribe stranded 10 baserunners.