by Charlie O. Mallonee

The Oakland Athletics’ two All-Stars – Sonny Gray and Stephen Vogt – showed why they were selected to the American League All-Start team as they led the A’s to a 2-0 victory over the Cleveland Indians on Sunday. Gray was a ground ball throwing machine while Vogt applied the power to defeat the Indians and their Cy Young Award winning pitcher Corey Kluber.

On the Bump

Gray (10-3) had the two seam fastball working to perfection as he induced 16 Cleveland batters to hit ground balls.He also was able to use the slider sparingly as an “out pitch” to strike out six Indians’ hitters. Gray walked just on batter and allowed only two hits.

Gray was able to throw the complete game shutout because of his efficiency on the mound. He threw just 107 pitches (71 strikes) in his nine innings of work. The Indians left just one runner in scoring position because they could not get runners on base.

Gray thought the key to the win was that he threw more fastballs in better locations. He said, “We had a good game plan that we were able to execute.”

The Indians’ Corey Kluber (4-10) had the type of game that would produce a win for most pitchers. He gave up just two runs (both earned) on four hits. He struck out six and walked just one hitter in eight innings on the mound. Kluber was not able to get any run support because of Sonny Gray’s outstanding performance.

In the Batter’s Box

Stephen Vogt supplied all the offense that the A’s would need to win the game. After Billy Burns walked to lead off the top of the fourth inning, Vogt – on a 1-0 count – hit the ball into the right field seats for a two run home run. That would prove to be the game winning hit for Oakland. It was Vogt’s 14th homer of the season.

Ironically, Vogt almost had a home run in his first at bat in the first inning. Vogt hit the first pitch from Kluber deep to right field only to robbed on a great catch by Cleveland outfielder David Murphy. The play was reviewed and the out call was upheld.

Ben Zobrist (2) and Josh Reddick had the only other hits for the A’s. Burns and Vogt both reached first on base on balls.

Francisco Lindor and Giovanny Urshela recorded the only two hits for Cleveland.

Defense

The Oakland Athletics did not commit an error in the game on Sunday. In fact, the A’s did not commit an error in any of the three games in Cleveland.

A’s Win the Series

The win on Sunday gave the Athletics (41-50) the series victory two games to one. The win also evened the A’s record on the road trip to three wins and three losses.

On our Oakland A’s podcast this week, we said the A’s needed to win one game in New York and two games in Cleveland. Obviously, they were listening to what we had to say about their road trip performance.

Coming Up

The A‘s will now have four days off for the All-Star Break. Many members of the team will scatter around the country to enjoy this much needed time off.

The A’s will start the second half of the season at home on Friday night versus the Minnesota Twins. Sonny Gray will be on the mound to face the Twins in the series opener.

Sonny Gray and Stephen Vogt left Cleveland after the game on a “party bus” ride to Cincinnati for the All-Star Game. Gray will not pitch in the All-Star Game but will participate in all of the other festivities.

Roster Moves

The A’s sent starting pitcher Chris Bassitt back to Triple-A Nashville after making the start in Cleveland on Saturday night. Relief pitcher Dan Otero was brought up from Nashville to take Bassitt’s place on the roster.

Bassitt was sent back to Nashville so he can make a start on July 19th. That would make Bassitt available to start during the Giants series should Jesse Hahn (forearm strain) still unavailable to pitch.

Podcast

Be sure to listen to the next Oakland A’s podcast with Charlie O and Lee Leonard. It will be posted on the Sports Radio Service website Tuesday evening.