Oakland Tops the Indians 6-0 as Bieber Loses First of the Season; Three Takeaways

CLEVELAND - Sunday marks the last time in 2018 the Indians will have to face the Oakland A's, and for the Tribe and their fans alike, they won't miss them one bit.

Oakland topped the Indians 6-0 at Progressive Field Sunday behind another solid start against the Tribe for A's starter Brett Anderson, winning the season series against Cleveland four games to two.

Anderson, who was activated before Sunday's game to make the start, went five innings allowing no runs on three hits with three K's to move to 3-0 lifetime against the Indians.

Shane Bieber allowed four runs on eight hits in six innings for the Tribe, as he suffered his first loss in the big leagues to drop to 5-1 on the year.

The homestand will continue with the Cincinnati Reds coming to town on Monday, but before that let's go back and look at the three takeaways from the loss to the A's.

1. Tough Day for the 'O'

It was one of 'those' days for the Indians offense, as the team went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position, and in three innings had two or more runners on base and failed to come up with a big hit when needed.

The most frustrating inning had to be the second when the Indians had runners on second and third with no outs in the second down 2-0, and Rajai Davis flew out to shallow right, Roberto Perez struck out on a 3-2 count, and Erik Gonzalez hit into a fielder's choice to end the threat.

The bottom of the order was awful on the day, going 0-for-11 with a walk and three K's and were 0-for-7 at the plate with runners in scoring position.

Kudos to the A's pitching staff for stopping the Indians cold.

2. So-So Day for Bieber

Indians rookie pitcher Shane Bieber went six innings, throwing 98 pitches as he allowed four runs on eight hits with seven K's.

He wasn't getting much help on some close calls by home plate ump Eric Cooper, and lost a couple key AB's early in two strike counts that cost him.

Oakland was patient with him and didn't chase much, and now it's two straight starts that Bieber has scuffled some, as in his last start he also allowed four runs, this time on nine hits with two strikeouts and one walk in six innings.
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He'll get a shot against the Yankees in Cleveland on Friday in his biggest start of his young career.

3. Anderson Does it Again Against the Tribe

If you would have asked any Indians fan what opposing pitcher has the lowest ERA against them since 1913, I don't think anyone would have ever guessed A's starter Brett Anderson as the answer.

Here we sit though as Anderson did it yet again against the Tribe, going five shutout innings, allowing three hits with two walks and three K's in the A's 6-0 win.

Anderson now 3-0 lifetime with a 0.82 ERA against the Indians in five starts, and on Sunday he had to work out of some trouble but in the five plus innings of work did more than enough to get the job done.

While he's not been very good against other teams in baseball, he seems to always have his best stuff against the Tribe, and that was the case once again Sunday at Progressive Field.