The Indians' bats back Carlos Carrasco over the A's

Carlos Carrasco returned from the DL and the Cleveland Indians' lineup unrolled the welcome mat in a 10-4 blowout win over the Oakland A's.

Carrasco didn't have the most encouraging start to the game, allowing a leadoff home run to Dustin Fowler in the first inning. Matt Olson followed with a solo homer of his own in the second, opening up a a 2-0 lead for the A's.

It was a bit of a slog from there, but Cookie lasted 5.1 innings, allowing seven hits and three earned runs and striking out seven to cap a solid return to the mound.

The A’s starter Paul Blackburn, who flummoxed the Indians a week ago with a scoreless outing, was not able to replicate that success. He only lasted four innings, giving up five earned runs.

Jason Kipnis got the Tribe on the board in the second inning, singling home Edwin Encarnacion, who blew through a stop sign to score from second.

One inning later, Jose Ramirez doubled home Francisco Lindor and Michael Brantley to give the Indians a 3-2 lead that they would never relinquish. Encarnacion followed with a sacrifice fly to bring home Ramirez, who had advanced to third on a wild pitch.

The Tribe’s formidable four at the top of the lineup — Lindor, Brantley, Ramirez, and Encarnacion — were responsible for eight of the Indians’ 10 runs. When the A’s cut the deficit to 4-3 in the fifth, Brantley delivered an RBI double and Encarnacion tacked on another sacrifice fly to extend the lead back to 6-3 in favor of the home team.

The game finally got away from the A’s in the eighth inning, when the Tribe scored four runs to reach double digits. The highlight was undoubtedly Ramirez and Lindor executing a double steal, with the former taking second base and the latter stealing home.

Five Indians relievers combined to finish out the final 3.2 innings of the game, with Zach McAllister surrendering the bullpen’s lone earned run of the night.