The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Carrasco strikes out 10 in Tribe victory
Whether or not the Indians will use another lengthy summer winning streak to propel their playoff hopes, improvement on their near.500 record requires peak performance from Carlos Carrasco.
The second ace in the Indians’ one-two punch alongside Corey Kluber, Carrasco looked like his regular self in a 3-1 win over the Milwaukee Brewers on June 6.
Carrasco last pitched in a loss to Minnesota June 1, when he didn’t make it out of the fourth inning. The Brewers loaded the bases in the second inning against Carrasco for Lorenzo Cain, who entered the game batting .361 lifetime against the Indians’ starter.
Rather than losing control of another start, Carrasco dug out of a 3-1 hole to induce an inningending flyout.
“The guys told me ‘you have to be a little bit more aggressive,’ ” Carrasco said. “Bases loaded right there, after two outs, it came back to me what was going on the last two games and it could happen right here. I just got a flyout to right field.”
Carrasco (7-4) proceeded to work seven innings of one-run ball to pitch the Indians past the NL Centralleading Brewers. Carrasco yielded eight hits, walked one and struck out 10.
The Indians swept their two-game interleague series to improve to 32-28.
Carrasco started the 2018 season 4-0 with a 2.31 ERA. His rough patch began at home April 28 against Seattle, when the Mariners tagged him for five runs in three innings.
From that start until his outing against the Minnesota Twins June 1, when the right-hander allowed six runs in 3 2/3 innings, Carrasco went 2-4 with a 6.37 ERA.
Batters are hitting Carrasco slightly harder than when he finished fourth in American League Cy Young voting a year ago. But the differences are marginal in advanced categories. His statistics per nine innings are largely similar, save for a decrease in strikeouts per nine innings from 10.2 to 8.6.
Carrasco’s 3.90 fielding independent ERA — which evaluates a pitcher’s effectiveness based on strikeouts, walks and home runs — indicates part of his 4.50 ERA suffers from some misfortune. Carrasco’s largest peripheral outlier is a .440 batting average against his changeup, which hitters posted a .126 average against last season.
When Carrasco escaped the bases-loaded jam in the second, manager Terry Francona saw the sequence generate momentum for the rest of Carrasco’s start.
“Because he had to reach back for his best stuff, I think he found his best stuff,” Francona said. “Then for the rest of the game, he was really good.”
Carrasco allowed a run in the third when Travis Shaw grounded a single to right and Christian Yelich scored after his leadoff double. Carrasco allowed three base runners over his final four innings and polished off his 17th career start with a double-digit strikeout tally.
The 31-year-old Venezuela native delivered his best outing in nearly a month, which also came at the Brewers’ expense. He struck out 14 in a complete game victory in Milwaukee May 9.
If Carrasco’s victory June 6 sparks consistent excellence for the duration of the season, remember Cain’s second-inning flyout.