Carmona’s sinker is scary sight for Twins

The Indians even had success against Johan Santana in the 2-0 win.

CLEVELAND (AP) — Fausto Carmona’s sinker dropped, it dipped, it dived, and it devastated the Minnesota Twins.

“It’s not normal,” Torii Hunter said of Carmona’s go-to pitch. “He’s not even human. It was so scary, I thought I was hung over.”

Throwing sinkers and almost nothing but sinkers, Carmona pitched a four-hitter for his first career shutout and beat Johan Santana for the second time in less than a month as the Cleveland Indians defeated the Twins 2-0 to finish off a three-game sweep.

Dominated

Carmona (5-1) dominated from start to finish with a 121-pitch performance that was still being discussed across the clubhouse dining tables as the Twins dug into their postgame buffet.

“That dude is filthy,” Hunter said. “We’ve been struggling, but even if we had been playing good, we wouldn’t have beaten him. If you’ve never played the game, listen to me, I’m a hitter. Right-handers have no chance unless they get lucky and get a hit on a broken bat.”

Santana (4-4), a two-time AL Cy Young Award winner, gave up consecutive home runs to Victor Martinez and Ryan Garko in a three-pitch span in the seventh inning as the Twins lost for the seventh time in eight games.

The Indians improved to 14-3 at home and are 5-0 this season against one of their AL Central rivals.

Carmona, bumped from Cleveland’s rotation earlier this season, is 5-0 with a 1.38 ERA in his last five starts and hasn’t given up a run in 15 innings. It’s a remarkable turnaround for the right-hander who was optioned to the minors but brought back when Jake Westbrook went on the disabled list.

Last season, the Indians gave Carmona a tryout as their closer, a disastrous experiment that was scrapped when he blew his first three saves.

Carmona’s karma

“Sometimes things happen for a reason,” said Martinez, Cleveland’s catcher, who estimated Carmona threw more than 100 sinkers. “He’s living the other side of it now.”

The Twins have lost eight of their last 10. Needless to say, this wasn’t the best time to run into Carmona.

“He ate us up,” Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire said. “He didn’t give us much of a chance.”

Santana blanked the Indians for the first six innings before Martinez touched him for his fifth homer. Two pitches later, Garko also connected for his fifth, giving Cleveland back-to-back homers for the first time this season and handing Carmona all the runs he would need.

The shots sent a shock wave through Cleveland’s dugout.

“Rare,” Indians manager Eric Wedge said of the drives off Santana. “That’s not something you’d expect.”