A's take 3 of 4 from Tribe

GAME 1 - Municipal Stadium

Byrd vs Bearden

A's 4, Indians 2

The A's scored on a pair of productive ground outs in the top of the 6th off of lefty knuckleball ace Gene Bearden.  That pushed the score to 4-1 for the visiting A's.  A Duane Kuiper RBI single in the bottom of the 8th cut the A's lead in half and would hasten starter Harry Byrd's exit.  Relievers Steve Ontiveros and Tony Pierce (perfect 9th) closed it out as the A's took the opener.  Future HOF'ers Rickey Henderson and Reggie Jackson each had 2 hits as did Mark McGwire, who is not a future HOF'er.

GAME 2 - Municipal Stadium

Archer vs Score

A's 7, Indians 0

In a battle of rookie lefties the unheralded Jim Archer (9 hit shutout) bested 1955 AL ROY Herb Score 7-0.  Score gave up 4 runs in 4 innings on just 2 hits.  The hard throwing lefty walked 9 in his short stint.  Jim Perry came on in relief and wasn't much better (3 runs in 3.2 IP).  Archer just went along and took care of business.  Yeonis Cespedes (2-4) had 3 RBI's, 2 runs scored and a 2 run homer.  Purple haired Joe Charboneau was 3 for 4 for the Tribe, who came out on the short side of the ledger.

GAME 3 - Oakland Coliseum

M.Grant vs Blanton

Indians 4, A's 3

a one out 2 run homer by Luke Easter quickly erased a 1 run deficit as the Tribe battled back to win their first game of the year behind 4 shutout innings of relief by Mike Garcia.  Indian starter Jim "Mudcat" Grant" gave up 3 runs in 5 innings, so manager Keller pulled him after 5.  That stroke of genius gave the Tribe the spark that they needed.  Charboneau continued his hot hitting (2-3).  Dick Howser stole 2 bases off of Grant and battery mate Allanson, which accounted for the 2 runs that he scored.

GAME 4 - Oakland Coliseum

Eckersley vs J.Parker

A's 2, Indians 0

A Dan Johnson solo blast in the bottom of the 2nd and an RBI single by Walt Weiss (no relation) the following inning were all the runs that Jarrod Parker and company would need on the day.  Parker scattered 5 hits in 7 shutout innings worth of work before exiting after throwing 111 pitches.  Tony Pierce carried the A's until closer Andrew Bailey got the final 2 outs in the 9th.  Eckersley went 7 innings and was the hard luck loser who gave up just 2 runs.