Tribe roughed up in 12-4 loss to Mariners; three takeaways

1. Rough outing for Carrasco

Carlos Carrasco (4-1, 3.08) lasted only three innings for the Tribe in his first loss of the year. He gave up five hits and five runs, four of which were earned while striking out four. Two of the hits were home runs.

From the very beginning of the game Carrasco had command problems. He gave up a two-run homer to Jean Segura in the second at-bat of the game, and gave up another bomb to Nelson Cruz two at-bats later. Both shots came on misplaced four-seamers in the heart of the zone.

Robinson Cano plated Dee Gordon on a sacrifice-fly in the third inning on a curveball, and another misplaced curveball right in the middle of the zone to Cruz was good enough for an RBI single in the next at-bat.

During the third inning, Carrasco’s back started to tighten up after he tripped coming back out onto the field for the top half of the frame.

“When I came up I missed one of the steps and I fell a little bit so my back felt a little bit stiff right there,” he said postgame. “So I felt a little bit different, I couldn’t throw my fastball. I think I was at like 88 to 90 (mph).”

“Rather than make something that wasn’t a good day worse, we got him out of there and tried to piece it together the best we could,” Francona added.

Terry Francona says Carlos Carrasco’s back started to tighten up on him in the third inning. “Rather than make something that wasn’t a good day worse, we got him out of there” pic.twitter.com/fo2KSH7saa

— Ashley Bastock (@AshleyBastock42) April 29, 2018

As Jordan Bastian tweeted, Carrasco’s numbers against Seattle this year are a definite outlier in his season. In two games against the Mariners, he has pitched eight and two-thirds innings, giving up 12 hits, four homers, 10 runs (nine earned), struck out eight and walked one. Against all other opponents, he’s given up just 17 hits, four earned runs, six walks, one homer and has struck out 24 in 29 and one-third innings.

The loss is Carrasco’s first of the year, and with it his 10-decision winning streak comes to an end. It is the longest streak by any Tribe pitcher since Cliff Lee won 11 consecutive decisions from July through September of 2008, the year he went on to win the Cy Young Award.

“I didn’t know about that. I just go up there and pitch, that’s what I want to do,” Carrasco said. “You said it right now but I didn’t know that.”

Carrasco said he had no idea about his 10-straight decision win streak coming into today. pic.twitter.com/Rcsc8zvJYP

— Ashley Bastock (@AshleyBastock42) April 29, 2018

Pages: 1 2 3 4