CLEVELAND _ The Indians' lineup continued arguably its best stretch of the season on Tuesday night and Trevor Bauer recorded a new career high for strikeouts in a single game in a 9-4 win against the Oakland A's at Progressive Field.
The Indians last week spoke to the slower-than-expected offensive start to this season, and that many believed some better days were ahead. The lineup has begun to produce at a more consistent rate, scoring at least five runs for the third straight game, the first time this season they have accomplished that feat.
On Tuesday night against A's starter Sonny Gray, the Indians lumped much of their production into a four-run fourth and a five-run third, quickly turning a 3-0 deficit into a 7-3 lead.
With two on after Francisco Lindor walked and Carlos Santana reached via a bunt single, Edwin Encarnacion, who entered the night on an eight-game hit streak in which he was hitting .355, started the rally with an RBI single. Jose Ramirez added an RBI double to right field and Bradley Zimmer followed with a two-RBI double to overtake the A's and give the Indians a 4-3 lead.
Jason Kipnis led off the fifth with a solo home run to right field, his sixth of the season. It also marked the 15th straight game in which the Indians have hit a home run, their longest such streak since 2007. Michael Brantley later added an RBI single after Lindor walked and stole second base. With Brantley on third, Gray uncorked a wild pitch, allowing the Indians to take a 7-3 lead.
Zimmer, now hitting .314 this season as a rookie, in the eighth inning crushed a no-doubt, two-run home run to right field to extend the advantage to 9-4. It was Zimmer's second home run in the majors. He finished 2 for 4 with four RBIs.
That was all to support Bauer on the mound, who struck out a career-high 14 batters in seven innings pitched. He also allowed three runs on seven hits and walked only one. It's the most strikeouts by an American League pitcher in a single game this season, and second in the majors only to Washington's Stephen Strasburg, who struck out 15 in a game.
In the eighth, Yonder Alonso doubled off Bryan Shaw and then scored on an error by Jose Ramirez at third base to cut the lead to 7-4, prior to Zimmer's home run. Andrew Miller closed out the inning and Cody Allen recorded his 15th save of the season in the ninth. As a club, the Indians struck out 19 batters Tuesday night, which tied a franchise record.
