Wednesday, April 17, 2019
Associated Press
SEATTLE
After one of the worst starts of his career, Cleveland’s Carlos Carrasco spent several days tinkering to try and find solution.
All it took was Carrasco picking up his tempo and believing in what he was throwing.
“The last game I didn’t have that. That’s what I worked on the last four days, just to get to this game,” Carrasco said. “I always say that I just want to throw with conviction. But I didn’t do that in my last game.”
Carrasco rebounded from that miserable outing with 12 strikeouts in seven innings, Jake Bauers hit a solo homer and the Indians beat the Seattle Mariners 1-0 Wednesday to complete a three-game sweep.
Carrasco (2-2) pitched three-hit ball, dominating as the Indians handed Seattle its sixth straight loss. The right-hander struck out the side three times and only allowed one baserunner to reach third base. The 12 strikeouts were the most for Carrasco since striking out 14 last September against Toronto.
It was a drastic turnaround after his last start, when Carrasco got just two outs, allowing six hits and six earned runs against Kansas City. It was the shortest outing of his career that wasn’t cut short by injury. “I think he was aggressive. It looked like there was conviction behind his pitches,” Cleveland manager Terry Francona said. “He’s got to trust himself a little bit. His stuff is too good.”
The Mariners ended their 20-game home run streak, a record to open a season. Seattle appeared to make it to 21 games in the third, when Ryon Healy hit a line drive down the left field line that was initially ruled a homer. It was overturned to a foul ball via replay, and Healy struck out.
Seattle’s only hits were doubles by Mallex Smith and Domingo Santana and a single by Edwin Encarnacion. Santana reached third base with two outs in the sixth after a wild pitch but was stranded there as Jay Bruce struck out for a third time.
Nick Wittgren pitched the final two innings for his first career save.
Seattle’s Erik Swanson surpassed the expectations of manager Scott Servais in his first big league start. Servais was hopeful of getting five innings out of Swanson (0-1) in his first big league start, but the rookie nearly matched Carrasco.
Swanson allowed two hits over six innings, struck out five and didn’t walk a batter. Bauers was the only Cleveland hitter to solve Swanson, with a single in the second and his second home run of the season on a 3-2 pitch in the fifth.
“He had thrown me a couple of fastballs away prior to that pitch and so I kind of had a good read on it and just decided to sell out,” Bauers said.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Indians: Francona said shortstop Francisco Lindor successfully completed his second rehab game Wednesday for Triple-A Columbus and has one more scheduled today. The team plans to drive Lindor from Louisville, Kentucky, to Cleveland to have his calf strain re-evaluated. ... Francona insisted 1B Carlos Santana take the day off Wednesday. He said Santana has a tight hamstring and could use the rest.
UP NEXT
Indians: The Indians return home, where RHP Corey Kluber (1-2, 6.16) is scheduled to start against Atlanta on Friday.