CLEVELAND — Fausto Carmona took more than a walk on the wild side Saturday at Progressive Field. Try a short retreat or extended vacation.
Carmona’s problems with control continued in earnest and, with little help from his sagging offense, it added up to another defeat for the Indians, who lost 7-3 to Oakland on a cold and rainy night on the lakefront.
The loss ended Cleveland’s winning streak in home series at seven, with the Indians losing their first home set since
Aug. 10-12 against the Yankees. It also means that the A’s are a win away from completing a three-game sweep. They’ve already won four times in five games against the Indians this season.
Cleveland, the defending Central Division champion, has lost three straight and seven of its first 11. Its starting pitchers have posted a 5.34 ERA and its offense is hitting .241, while averaging 3.3 runs since the first two games.
“Overall, we’re still nowhere close to where we need to be,” said manager Eric Wedge. “We just have to keep fighting through this and keep things in perspective.”
Another long night for the Indians began with Carmona, who failed to earn his money in his first start since the announcement of his long-term contract.
Walking a career-high eight batters, the right-hander lasted just 31/3 innings, allowing three runs on two hits. The walks were the most by an Indians starter since Bob Ojeda equaled the total against the Yankees on Aug. 26, 1993, and it continued a disturbing trend for Carmona, who has issued 17 free passes in three starts covering 16 1/3 innings. He has walked 13 batters over 9 1/3 innings in his last two outings.
“He just had trouble finding it tonight,” Wedge said. “It was one of those things where he kept trying to grind through it and trying to find it, but he just wasn’t able to get on track.”
Carmona, who walked four through the first three innings and four of the first five batters in the fourth, cited mechanics as the problem.
“I felt like my arm was away from my body and I wasn’t able to control my arm,” said Carmona through interpreter and first base coach Luis Rivera. “The ball was moving a lot.
“It’s something that I’m not going to let beat me. This is the first time it’s ever happened. I’m going to fix it in the bullpen.”
He walked 61 batters through 215 innings last year , averaging just under two walks per start.
Carmona, who threw more balls (42) than strikes (40), put the Indians in an early hole. But even after his subpar effort they were well within striking distance, trailing 3-1 through five innings and 3-2 after six, thanks to David Dellucci’s walk with the bases loaded.
That’s when another walk led to more disaster for the Indians, whose pitchers issued 11 walks on the night. Cleveland actually outhit Oakland 8-7.
Rafael Perez walked the first batter of the seventh, then allowed consecutive singles to Mike Sweeney and Emil Brown (an RBI base hit) before Bobby Crosby hit a three-run home run to left that put the game on ice.
Of the four losses the Indians have suffered to Oakland, three no-name pitchers — Justin Duchscherer, Dana Eveland and Saturday’s starter Lenny DiNardo — have earned the decisions, combining to hold Cleveland to four runs over 17 innings.
It’s too early for the Indians to push the panic button, but the team has not come out of the gate as expected.
“I think it’s going to take some faith and some patience in ourselves and realizing that it’s a long season,” said third baseman Casey Blake. “We’ve done it before. It’s so early in the season it’s ridiculous. We’ve got that on our side.”
Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com.

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