Game #28 Observations: Carlos Carrasco Knocked Out Early Again, Indians Drop Series to Tigers

Carlos Carrasco was roughed up for a third consecutive outing, and the Indians bats waited until the ninth to mount a comeback, falling to the Tigers, 7-4, Cleveland's first series loss to Detroit since Sept. 2018.

Carlos Carrasco was roughed up for a third consecutive outing, and the Indians bats waited until the ninth to attempt a comeback, falling to the Tigers, 7-4, Cleveland's first series loss to Detroit since Sept. 2018.

Carrasco exited after just 3 1/3 innings, giving up seven hits and four runs, including a pair of homers. The Tribe's offense, meanwhile, remained mostly quiet until scoring three runs in the ninth.

The Indians are now 17-11.

Here are some observations from Game No. 28.

Middle-Inning Madness

Coming into the game, it was the third time through the order that had really plagued Carrasco in 2020. 

His OPS allowed prior to Sunday’s contest was .537 in his first trek through the opposing batting order, .758 in the second and .908 in the third.

That was evident in Carrasco’s past two outings, where the righty was knocked out before completing the fifth inning, allowing six total runs in outings against the Chicago Cubs and Pittsburgh Pirates.

On Sunday, that knockout blow came even earlier, with the pair of homers allowed — Niko Goodrum and Jorge Bonifacio doing the damage — and four total extra-base hits coming before Sandy Alomar Jr. went to Logan Allen in the fourth.

The three-run fourth for Detroit also came as Carrasco, who began the game with excellent velocity, saw that velo decline.

A similar trend was also present in each of those past two starts.

Be it pitch usage, velocity or a lack of execution in the middle frames, he's now allowed 10 runs and nine walks over his past 12 innings — most of the damage coming in the fourth or fifth innings — as opposed to the 2.50 ERA he posted in his first three starts of 2020.

Of course, that’s not to say Carrasco needs to be thrown in the bullpen or made into some starter-opener combination. Even in a shortened season, he’s had a strong enough career to warrant some time to make some adjustments.

But as you start to look ahead to a possible playoff run, knowing that the Indians have a plethora of starting pitching arms — did you see Triston McKenzie’s debut? — Carrasco as a one- or two-inning weapon while throwing 95 mph in relief makes some sense.

... I'm getting ahead of myself.

Either way, these are trends worth monitoring in the meantime.

(Some) Good News, (More) Bad News

If you're an optimistic person, you'd probably focus on the three hard-hit balls and two hits by Jose Ramirez on Sunday and the hard-hit ball and five-hit weekend for Francisco Lindor. 

And that'd make some degree of sense. They are the two most important offensive players on the Indians, and if some better results and at-bats over the weekend mean that they're nearing an end to their woes, the positives can't be overstated.

If you were a pessimistic individual -- they prefer to be called realistic -- you'd make a fart noise with your mouth (I hope that's your mouth), point to the scoreboard on most nights and gesture to the team offensive numbers that still need to be viewed through a microscope.

I know, the Indians rallied for three in the ninth on Sunday thanks to Greg Allen's homer off Joe Jimenez, but that came after Alomar began to empty the bench and the game was seemingly out of reach.

Even if you believe they have enough talent 1-through-5 in their lineup to score an adequate amount to support their stellar staff -- I do -- there are few (if any) teams that can overcome getting so little from the bottom four spots in the lineup on a nearly nightly basis - and that's especially true when the guys who normally carry the offense struggle.

Through 28 games, the Indians rank 23rd in runs, 29th in batting average (.208), 28th in OPS (.650) and 28th in wRC+ (they own a 78, where 100 is league average). 

There are few ways to spin any of that -- unless you're making nightly prayers to the baseball regression gods.

It remains to be seen how active the Aug. 31 trade deadline will be, but given how special Tribe pitching has been, it would seem almost criminal to not attempt to upgrade the offense, even if that means dealing from their pitching surplus.

Whether the uncertain return status of Mike Clevinger or Zach Plesac factors into that is left to guessing. But would one stick be enough?

First Up

One hitter doing his part has been Cesar Hernandez, who led off the bottom of the first inning for Cleveland with his first homer as a member of the Indians, his 12th career leadoff bomb.

Hernandez has been eight percent above average in run-creation this year and owns a .363 on-base percentage. 

Now, those aren't exactly stunning numbers. But with so few others producing, simply getting on base at the top of the order looks spectacular in comparison.