Mark Canha homered and drove in three runs, and Frankie Montas struck out nine over six scoreless innings as the visiting Oakland Athletics completed a sweep of the Cleveland Indians with a 7-2 victory on Wednesday afternoon.
Nick Hundley belted a homer among his three hits and joined Robbie Grossman in driving in a pair of runs for the Athletics, who extended their season-high winning streak to six games.
Jake Bauers launched a two-run homer in the eighth inning, and Francisco Lindor reached base four times (two singles, two walks) for the Indians, who have lost nine of their last 12 encounters with Oakland.
Cleveland mustered little against Montas (6-2), who recorded his fourth straight quality start and lowered his ERA to 2.40 after scattering five hits over his 101-pitch outing.
Montas received steady offensive support as Oakland scored at least one run in six of the first seven innings to take control of the contest.
Jefry Rodriguez (1-4) walked the bases loaded in the first inning before third baseman Jose Ramirez was unable to cleanly field Canha’s sharp grounder, allowing Marcus Semien to score the first run of the game. Matt Chapman scored on Grossman’s sacrifice fly in the following at-bat to double the advantage.
Hundley deposited Rodriguez’s 2-1 fastball into the seats in right field to give Oakland a 3-0 lead in the second. The homer was the second in as many starts for Hundley, who has answered a 3-for-30 start to the season by going 11-for-29 since April 21.
Grossman’s single to right field plated Matt Olson in the third inning, and Canha — the team’s designated hitter in place of the injured Khris Davis — ripped a two-out double to left-center field to extend the Athletics’ lead to 5-0 in the fourth.
Canha wasn’t done, however, as he sent a 1-2 sinker from Dan Otero over the wall in right field with two outs in the sixth inning. The homer was Canha’s fifth in his last eight games and the Athletics’ 10th in six contests against the Indians in 2019.
–Field Level Media
