Cleveland Indians: 3 takeaways from a monster win in Oakland

The Cleveland Indians entered Sunday trying to avoid a sweep. They did that in a much-needed blowout win against the Oakland A’s.

Cleveland Indians fans who missed the final three innings of today’s game will be quite confused when seeing the final score of 15-3.

The Indians scored 12 of those runs from the seventh inning on, including eight runs in the eighth inning. It was a refreshing sight after the offense managed a combined three runs in the first two games of the series.

The Indians now head to Kansas City to take on a Royals team that is sporting the dismal record of 25-58. But first, here’s a look at three main things that stood out from the big win in Oakland.

Clev keeping it close

Before the offense went wild, Mike Clevinger was doing his best to set his team on the path to victory. Clevinger ended up going six innings, allowing three earned runs on eight hits. The third run was charged to Clevinger but came in after he had left the game.

This was Clevinger’s fifth straight start in which he has allowed three runs or fewer. His ERA is now down to 3.11, which is good for 11th overall in the American League.

Clevinger is a longshot for the All-Star Game but he is certainly pitching like someone who should be considered for the game. The crazy thing is that he may not even crack the team’s ALDS rotation due to the depth and dominance in the rotation.

Doubles galore

The Indians had seven batters hit a double in the win, with four of those individuals hitting two doubles. This came on a day when the Indians had five separate players drive in more than one run with Yonder Alonso leading the way with four RBIs.

As a quick side note, I just now received the news that LeBron is leaving and this recap is hard to focus on. This sucks. Back to the Tribe.

A chance to salvage the trip

The Indians haven’t done all that well since heading out on the road to start the week. The team took one of three from the Cardinals before doing the same against the A’s. But that should change with the upcoming series in Kansas City.

The Royals are a whopping 11-29 at home this season and are fighting the Orioles for the worst record in baseball. What a sad fall for a franchise that finally reached greatness again a few years ago.

Next: Francisco Mejia is heating up in Columbus

A sweep in Kansas City coupled with some more bad baseball from the Twins and Tigers could mean the Indians head home later in the week with a double-digit lead in the division.