Indians dominate Sox as they chase wild card spot

Chris Sale wouldn’t use the 4 1/2 hour rain delay to the start of Sunday’s 7-1 loss to the Cleveland Indians as an excuse.

“It anything it should have helped me,” he said. “It just didn’t work out in my favor.”

Sale (11-13) fell to 0-4 against the Indians this season after the 7-1 loss at U.S. Cellular Field. But he isn’t the only Sox who has suffered.

The Indians extended their winning streak over the Sox to 12 in sweeping the four-game series and out-scoring the Sox 32-6 in the process.

The Sox have lost six straight and are now 33 games below .500 at 58-91.

Sale lasted 5 2/3 innings, giving up six runs on nine hits, including three homers. Ex-Sox Nick Swisher hit two homers, one off Sale and the other off Ramon Troncoso. Matt Carson and Asdrubal Cabrera also homered off Sale.

The Indians are within a half game of Texas and Tampa Bay in the American League wild card race with two weeks left in the season. They have won nine of their last 12 games on the road.

``I think once they got a couple [runs] on the board they just seem to be a little more in rhythm than most teams,’' Sox manager Robin Ventura said of the Indians, whom the Sox play two more times next week in Cleveland. ``We still have to go out there. It still counts. Guys are playing hard. It’s just not happening.’'

``I think that we come in every game trying to win it and you know, they outplayed us for four games,’' Adam Dunn said of the Indians. ``You can take getting beat, but when they just flat out outplay, they pitch better and they hit better, they just outplay you.’'