Gonzalez, 2 Oakland relievers shut out Indians 5-0

CLEVELAND (AP) - Gio Gonzalez extended the Oakland Athletics' strong streak of pitching with seven solid innings in a 5-0 victory over the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday night.

Jeff Larish had a two-run homer and Coco Crisp a solo shot off Fausto Carmona (11-12) as Oakland snapped its streak without multiple homers at 26 games, longest since a team-record 31 games in 1978. Jack Cust hit a two-run homer off reliever Tony Sipp in the seventh to make it 5-0.

Gonzalez (11-8) gave up five hits over seven innings, becoming the 22nd consecutive Oakland starter to work at least six innings. The Athletics staff has allowed five runs or fewer in all those games, the longest streak by an AL team since the 1989 California Angels.

Oakland starters have a 2.01 ERA and limited opponents to a .198 batting average since July 31, but the Athletics are only 11-11 over that stretch.

Michael Wuertz worked the eighth inning and Jerry Blevins the ninth for Oakland as Cleveland was shut out for the 11th time, tying Seattle for most in the AL. Oakland has four of the shutouts against the Indians, who have dropped 12 of their last 16 at home.

Gonzalez improved to 4-0 with a 0.89 ERA in four career starts against Cleveland. He worked out of jams in the second, fourth and fifth as the Athletics opened a 10-game trip to Cleveland, Texas and New York with only their third win in the last 11 road games. Oakland is 24-35 on the road overall.

The left-hander struck out Trevor Crowe with runners on second and third to end the second. Both runners had reached on errors. Cleveland got its first two hits and loaded the bases with two outs in the fourth before Crowe bounced into a forceout. Shelley Duncan took a called third strike with two on to end the fifth.

Carmona worked out of a bases-loaded threat, too, getting No. 9 hitter Cliff Pennington on a fly to right to end the fourth.

The right-hander allowed four runs and nine hits over 6 2-3 innings as the latest Cleveland starter to struggle. The Indians' rotation is 1-13 over the last 17 games, during which Cleveland is 5-12.

Carmona lost his fourth straight start since winning in Boston on Aug. 2.

Larish, in his first at-bat since being recalled from Triple-A Sacramento on Friday, followed a single by Rajai Davis with a homer to center for a 2-0 lead in the second.

Crisp opened the fifth by lining a 3-2 pitch over the wall in right for his sixth homer. The former Indians outfielder went 3 for 5, a triple shy of the cycle, and is hitting .391 (25 for 64) over his last 16 games.

Cust's homer was his 10th, but first in 42 at-bats against lefties this year.

NOTES: Oakland 3B Kevin Kouzmanoff, in a 4-for-42 slump (.095), did not start. He replaced Larish for defense in the eighth. Larish made two errors on one play in the second. Kouzmanoff has the AL's second-lowest batting average in August at .145. Oakland C Kurt Suzuki went 0 for 4 and is hitting .138, 9 for 65, in August. ... Indians OF Michael Brantley missed his fourth game with a sprained left ankle. He took batting practice and could start Wednesday. ... Cust has hit .330 (30 for 91) with eight homers and 26 RBIs in 27 career games against Cleveland, including 6 for 13 (.462) off Carmona.