Cleveland @ Oakland preview

Cleveland at Oakland

Last Meeting ( Apr 23, 2010 ) Cleveland 0, Oakland 10

Brett Anderson’s first outing as a soon-to-be wealthy pitcher didn’t go so well. He’s hoping his second start will be much better.

The Oakland Athletics left-hander wasn’t sharp against the Baltimore Orioles two days after signing a four-year contract extension. He will be aiming to perform much better when the A’s host the Cleveland Indians on Saturday afternoon.

The 22-year-old Anderson agreed to a $12.5 million deal that will pay him $5.5 million in 2013. In addition, the A’s hold club options of $8 million in 2014 and $12 million in 2015.

But the pitcher the A’s view as their future ace struggled badly against the lowly Orioles after failing to allow a run in his first two starts of the 2010 campaign. Anderson allowed six runs and eight hits in five innings against Baltimore.

Thanks to beginning the season with 12 consecutive scoreless innings, Anderson has a nifty 2.65 ERA.

Oakland moved to lock up Anderson because the price was only going to increase as his performance improved. Thus far, Anderson's posted a 12-12 record in 33 career starts.

Anderson was a member of the 2008 U.S. Olympic baseball team and has shown great promise. In his rookie season last year, he had more than three times the number of strikeouts (150) as walks (45).

Anderson and A’s will be looking to continue their strong start to the season on Saturday. Oakland’s 11-7 record through 18 games is the franchise’s best since starting 12-6 in 1992.

The Athletics routed Cleveland, 10-0, in Friday’s opening game of the series as the defense turned five double plays and catcher Kurt Suzuki homered for the second straight game.

The Indians didn’t just struggle at the plate and on the mound – they also committed three errors Friday after making just seven over the first 15 games.

Fausto Carmona will start for Cleveland and his pitching has been a pleasant surprise so far this season.

Carmona has two wins and a well-pitched no-decision - two runs in eight innings - in three starts. Last season, he went 5-12 with a horrendous 6.32 ERA.

Control always is an issue for Carmona. He has walked 12 batters in 20 innings, similar to last year’s pace when he walked 70 in 125 1/3 innings.

Oakland third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff went 2-for-4 with two RBIs on Friday to continue haunting his former team. Kouzmanoff is now 8-for-17 (.471) with eight RBIs against Cleveland. He’s hit two homers and three doubles.

Kouzmanoff is off to his customary slow start, but his two run-scoring singles with runners in scoring position were a plus after going 0-for-17 in such situations prior to Friday’s game.

Cleveland shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera stretched his hitting streak to eight games on Friday. He’s batting .406 (13-for-32) during the stretch.