Carlos Carraso’s return to the rotation began in impressive fashion a month ago. When the right-hander carried the intitial success over a handful of starts, it seemed like a pleasant surprise and an encouraging development for an Indians staff in need of a lift.
After Carrasco’s latest performance, perhaps the time has come to expect these kinds of days for the pitcher. On Sunday afternoon, the big right-hander worked into the ninth inning to lead Cleveland to a 2-0 victory, completing a three-game sweep of the White Sox at Progressive Field.
“I’ll tell you what, it’s been so nice,” Indians manager Terry Francona said of Carrasco’s recent showing. “You put a guy in the rotation and you certainly hope for the best, but my goodness. He looks so strong.”
It was a much-needed brooming of Chicago in the wake of Cleveland opening September by losing three of four games to the Tigers, who are one of the clubs the Tribe is chasing in both the American League Central and Wild Card races. Pitching has keyed Cleveland’s 21-12 run since the start of August, and Carrasco continued that trend in Sunday’s series finale.
Dating back to Aug. 9, which was the day prior to Carrasco’s move back to the rotation, the Tribe’s starting staff has turned in a 1.84 ERA with 168 strikeouts in 161 2/3 innings (25 games). The Indians entered the day with the third-lowest team ERA in the Majors in the second half, and lowered that figure to 2.82 after Sunday’s showing.
The Indians have stayed in the postseason picture as a result, five games back of the Royals in the AL Central and 3 1/2 back of the Mariners for the second AL Wild Card.
“We’re running out of months,” Francona said. “Not days, but months. So, we need to make up some ground. I don’t know if you can go into a series thinking about a sweep, because I don’t think that’s a very productive way to play, but now that it’s over, it certainly helps. Now, it makes tomorrow that much bigger.”
One day after Corey Kluber turned in a complete game against Chicago, Carrasco followed suit with 8 2/3 shutout innings of his own. In his 103-pitch effort, Carrasco piled up eight strikeouts, scattered four hits, issued no walks and created 13 outs via ground balls.
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