Carrasco’s new routine works for Indians

By PAUL HOYNES

Northeast Ohio Media Group

HOUSTON

Editor’s note: The Cleveland Indians and Houston Astros were tied at 1 in the top of the 13th inning at press time Thursday night.

Quick hits from manager Terry Francona and the rest of the Indians before Thursday night’s game at Minute Maid Park.

New routine: Wednesday night pitching coach Mickey Callaway was waiting in the bullpen about eight minutes before game time. Bullpen coach Kevin Cash was there. So were the bullpen catchers, but someone was missing – starting pitcher Carlos Carrasco.

“We’ve got about eight minutes to the game and I’m wondering where is he,” said Callaway. “I told Cashie, “Do you think I should have told him that he’s starting tonight?’ I was getting nervous.”

Right about then, Carrasco arrived.

He threw for about five minutes before taking the mound for real. What followed was the first two-hit shutout of Carrasco’s career. He struck out a career high 12 for good measure.

This is Carrasco’s new approach. No more long bullpen sessions before a start. After spending three months as a reliever, Carrasco learned how to get warm fast. He’s been doing the same thing since rejoining the rotation in August and it’s hard to argue with the numbers — 5-1 with a 1.17 ERA in eight starts.

In Wednesday’s 2-0 victory, Carrasco threw 75 percent (74-for-98) of his pitches for strikes.

“I think he threw 75 percent of his first pitches for strikes and he threw a lot of strikes with the count 1-1,” said Callaway. “So he was constantly ahead in the count.”

Francona on Jose Altuve: “He’s good for the game. He’s not really good when you play against him, but he’s really good for the game.”

Altuve leads the big leagues with 213 hits for the Astros.

Back in there: Second Jason Kipnis, after getting a night off Wednesday to rest his sore legs, was back in the lineup Thursday in the fifth spot.

“I think Kip is doing better,” said Francona. “He was available to pinch hit last night. I just thought a day off would do him a lot of good. But it’s hard when you get to this period of the year when you need to win, but I don’t think running guys out there when they shouldn’t be out there helps.”

Reason why: J.B. Shuck made his second start in right field for the Tribe on Thursday, while David Murphy DH’d.

Francona wanted to see if Shuck, who has good speed, could possibly steal against Houston starter Scott Feldman. He was also thinking ahead to tonight when the Indians open a three-game series in Minneapolis.

“We’re going to have a late night (Thursday) and I want Murph to play on Friday,” said Francona. “So I was trying to balance all that.”

Shuck played 32 games with the Angels this year. They clinched the AL West on Wednesday. When asked if he would get a postseason share, Shuck said, “We’ll have to see.”