Game 15 Recap: Oakland A's Drop Series Opener to Tribe, 4-3

An old face came back to help defeat the A's on Friday. Former A's third baseman Jack Hannahan had three RBI as the Cleveland Indians held off the A's 4-3 in the opener of a three-game series at the Coliseum.

Graham Godfrey's wildness helped contribute to his undoing as he fell to 0-3. Godfrey walked five batters and allowed all four runs on three hits. Although the bullpen threw four scoreless innings for the second straight game, the A's could not quite come back from three runs down.

Godfrey's troubles began in the second inning when he walked three of the first four batters. With the bases loaded, Hannahan hit a sacrifice fly to put the Indians up 1-0. The A's tied it in the bottom of the third when Josh Reddick hit a towering solo home run to right off Cleveland starter Ubaldo Jimenez.

But Godfrey's wildness resurfaced in the fourth when after a Travis Hafner single, he walked Shelly Duncan. Hannahan doubled both runners in to make it 3-1. Cleveland's Shin-Soo Choo singled in their final run in the fifth after Godfrey hit Jason Kipnis, who stole second.

The A's rallied to score in the fifth and seventh on RBI singles by Yoenis Cespedes, but they could get no closer. Cleveland closer Chris Perez pitched a perfect ninth inning for his fifth save of the year. 

Good: Yoenis Cespedes. He went 3-for-4 with a walk and two RBI. Slowly but surely, the Cuban Missile is finding his target consistently. Nights like this are more encouraging because he is proving he can contribute with more than just the long ball.

Bad: Graham Godfrey. Quite simply, he's a control pitcher who had lousy control. With Dallas Braden on the mend and Jarrod Parker looming, Godfrey did himself no favors with another uneven at best performance.

Ugly: A's hitting with runners on base. They left 11 men on base, squandering too many run-scoring opportunities in a one-run game. The situation hitting has been lousy for a while.

Now 7-8, the A's continue the series with Brandon McCarthy facing Cleveland's Jeanmar Gomez on Saturday. First pitch is set for 6:05 p.m.