Oakland @ Cleveland preview

Last Meeting ( Aug 29, 2011 ) Oakland 1, Cleveland 2

THE STORY: Fans who love high-scoring baseball would be best advised to look elsewhere during the four-game series between the visiting Oakland Athletics and Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field. Those who think it's all about the pitching will have a different opinion. The Indians look to repeat Monday's performance – and stay close in the American League Central – in Tuesday night’s game against the Athletics. Cleveland won the series opener 2-1, a game in which the teams had five hits apiece and struck out a combined 19 times.

TV: 7:05 p.m. ET, CSCA (Oakland), STO (Cleveland)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Athletics RH Trevor Cahill (9-12, 4.13 ERA) vs. Indians RH Jeanmar Gomez (0-2, 5.70 ERA)

Cahill won't come close to approaching last season's performance, when he finished 18-8 with a 2.97 ERA. He has gone five starts without a win since beating Tampa Bay on July 27. Cahill has allowed 22 earned runs and 41 hits in 28 2/3 innings. The A's are fortunate to be 2-3 in those games, especially since Cahill has pitched past the sixth inning only once. He's 2-1 with a 3.06 ERA in his career against the Indians. Cahill defeated Cleveland on May 4 in Oakland, allowing one earned run in seven innings.

Gomez, who has pitched poorly in his limited opportunities this season, will be called up from Triple-A Columbus to make Tuesday’s start. He will get a chance to prove himself over the final month with Josh Tomlin on the disabled list. Opponents are batting .330 against Gomez, who has allowed 34 hits in 23 2/3 innings over five outings. His lone appearance against the A's came on May 5 in Oakland when he allowed one earned run in 5 1/3 innings.

ABOUT THE ATHLETICS (60-74): When a team struggles to score, it needs to be perfect in other areas. A baserunning mistake by Jemile Weeks was costly Monday. The rookie doubled in a run in the eighth, cutting Oakland's deficit to one, but he froze when Coco Crisp popped up a sacrifice attempt. When the ball landed, Weeks had to go back to the bag and Crisp was thrown out. Weeks would have easily scored from third on Hideki Matsui's deep fly ball, but the inning ended without Oakland tying the game. The Athletics have lost four of five.

ABOUT THE INDIANS (66-65): It's been a lost season for outfielder Shin-Soo Choo, who could be out at least two weeks with an oblique injury. After batting .300 or better in each of the last three seasons, Choo started out slowly, an indication this might not be his year. He was hitting .247 when he broke his left thumb after being hit by a pitch on June 24. Choo returned on Aug. 14 and raised his average to .260 before pulling a muscle in his side while batting. He would be on the disabled list if the rosters weren't going to be expanded on Thursday.

FINAL PITCH: The third-place Indians, who have won three of four, moved to within 5 ½ games of Detroit in the AL Central, the first time they've gained ground in the standings since Aug. 18.