Cleveland Indians defeat Yankees as Carlos Carrasco dazzles again

Indians 7, Yankees 3

box score

Indians improve to 57-64

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11 strikeouts.  Six baserunners.  One earned run.  Yep, Carlos Carrasco was excellent again.  And yes, the Tribe almost found a way to ruin another fantastic start.

Carrasco kept the Yankees off balance much of the night, mixing in plenty of hard four and two seam fastballs, while also throwing 30 changeups.  Carrasco's dominance has been fun to watch, as he owns a 1.36 ERA over his last five starts, holding opponents to a batting average of just .134.  On the year, the right-hander's 2.79 xFIP ranks fourth in the American League, behind just Chris Sale, Chris Archer, and Dallas Keuchel.

The Tribe scored seven runs but didn't put up a crooked number until the ninth; scoring single runs in the third, fifth, sixth, and seventh innings.  Jose Ramirez got the fun started by tripling in the third and scoring on an opposite field single from Francisco Lindor.  The fifth inning saw Abraham Almonte score on a Brendan Ryan error, while Carlos Santana led the sixth off with a line drive, rocket-of-a-homer to right field (with an impressive 109 mph exit velocity).

The Tribe chased Tanaka from the game in the seventh and ended up working in a run off reliever Chasen Shreve; thanks to a Ramirez single, Lindor walk, and Michael Brantley two-strike RBI single.

Leading 4-1 heading into the bottom of seventh, Carrasco struck out both Carlos Beltran and Greg Bird to start the inning.  Baseball is rarely that easy (especially for the Indians), and subsequent singles by Jacoby Ellsbury and Stephen Drew drove Carrasco from the ballgame.  Left-hander Kyle Crockett entered and calmly struck out the Yanks Didi Gregorius to end the threat.

More drama followed in the bottom of the eighth, with the Yankees starting the inning off with three singles.  After Zach McAllister got two relatively deep and scary fly ball outs, Bird hit a routine ground ball to second base that should have ended the inning.  It didn't.  Ramirez didn't get his glove down and the ball scooted right through his legs.  The error allowed Chase Headley to score, making it a 4-3 game.  Cody Allen entered and walked Jacoby Ellsbury, but recovered to get Drew on another deep and scary fly ball out that ended the inning.

The Tribe's offense finished strong, scoring three in the ninth.  Ramirez earned a little redemption with a single, followed by a Jason Kipnis ground-rule double, Brantley single, and double by Jerry Sands.  In just ten minutes, the Indians went from almost blowing the ballgame to pretty much locking in another road victory.  Ahhh, this silly game we love.

Game three of the series is scheduled for 1:05 PM ET Saturday, with Danny Salazar facing off against Luis Severino.  Let's Go Tribe!

Win Probability Chart

Source: FanGraphs

Roll Call

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