A Quick Day’s Work

The Cleveland Indians and Oakland Athletics finished off two games quicker than it takes most teams to play one.

Kenny Rogers pitched seven strong innings at Oakland and A.J. Hinch singled home the go-ahead run in the seventh as the A’s defeated Cleveland, 3-1, on Wednesday, sending the Indians to their first loss of the season.

The Oakland victory came barely three hours after the Indians completed a 6-5 victory in a suspended game delayed by rain on Monday night and then halted because of the AL curfew.

It took 20 minutes to play the ninth inning and complete the suspended game. The victory enabled the Indians to match their best winning streak of last year by opening the season with six straight victories.

After a 29-minute break, the teams took 2 hours 32 minutes to play the scheduled game.

“It was kind of strange. I wish we could have finished it the other night,” Hinch said. “I felt like I caught a doubleheader today, even though it was just one inning.”

Rogers (1-0), obtained in a trade from the New York Yankees last November, got his first win for Oakland. Bill Taylor pitched the ninth for his first save.

“When you hold a lineup like that to one run, that’s all you can ask for,” Rogers said. “You can’t overpower them, you have to move the ball around and change speeds.”

Rogers entered the game with a 4-7 record and a 6.40 career earned-run average against Cleveland while pitching for the Texas Rangers and the Yankees.

Cleveland starter Dave Burba (1-1) lost the regularly scheduled game.

In the completion of the suspended game, Mike Jackson wrapped up the victory by getting Scott Spiezio to fly to center with two on and two out.