A’s strike early to clinch series over Indians

OAKLAND — The Indians traveled to the Coliseum this week with a chance to pick up some wins against an A’s team that has struggled all season. Cleveland did not expect to run into the kind of pitching it did in Oakland, where the A’s took two of three in the series after a 5-1 win on Wednesday afternoon.

Righty Kendall Graveman logged 6 2/3 solid innings against the Indians, out-pitching Tribe righty Trevor Bauer and continuing the rotation’s success this series. The trio of Andrew Triggs, Sean Manaea and Graveman combined for a 0.92 ERA, 0.86 WHIP and .179 opponents’ average in 19 2/3 combined innings against the American League Central-leading Indians.

Graveman’s lone mistake came courtesy of a solo homer by Cleveland’s Roberto Perez in the seventh inning.

Bauer was charged with five runs (three earned) on 10 hits in 6 2/3 innings for the Indians, whose division lead over Detroit was trimmed to six games, pending the result of the Tigers’ game against the Twins. The righty struck out three, walked two and allowed all five runs in the second inning.

MOMENTS THAT MATTEREDUsual suspects strike again: The A’s two hottest hitters, Khris Davis and Ryon Healy, ignited the five-run second inning against Bauer. And for the second straight day, a pair of rookies followed closely behind. Davis led off the inning with a triple to right field and Healy, who has an 11-game hitting streak, drove him in with an RBI single. Max Muncy and Chad Pinder followed with RBIs of their own, giving Oakland a 3-0 lead. Davis is hitting .354 over his last 13 games with six homers during that stretch, while Healy is batting .415 during his hitting …

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