Indians earn smooth 3-2 win thanks to Brantley’s early swing; three takeaways

2. Cookie settles in

In his first home outing of 2018, Carlos Carrasco (5.40 ERA) earned his second win of the year.

Carrasco gave up five hits and two runs (both in the first inning), while striking out four and giving up just one (intentional) walk. After giving up an RBI single to Duda in the first inning, he retired the next 13 batters. He left the game following the sixth inning with a calf cramp.

“I thought he did a good job of settling down,” Francona said. “It wasn’t easy. One time, (Yan Gomes) got knocked back with the wind. I thought he did a really good job of settling in. And then the last inning, he had a cramp in his calf, we didn’t know. But when he came out of the game, we were going to take him out anyway, but he goes, ‘I’ve had this cramp.’ He’s pitching through an intentional walk, bad conditions, good hitters and did a terrific job.”

Overall, Carrasco did a good job of getting hitters to chase pitches lower in the zone to record the first home opener win for an Indians starting pitcher since 2007:

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