Guardians Give Former Cleveland Pitcher Trouble In First Showdown Since Trade

The Cleveland Guardians scored five runs off of Carlos Carrasco as the pitcher made his first start as a New York Met against his former club.

There's no way a player can be a part of an organization for 11 years without being good at what they do and being loved by the team and fans. This is exactly what Carlos Carrasco was for the Cleveland organization during his tenure there. 

Carrasco pitched for Cleveland from 2009-2020 in a variety of roles. He came up as a starting pitcher, moved into the bullpen, and then was placed back into the starting rotation. Over his 11 seasons as an Indian, he pitched 1242.1 innings with an ERA of 3.77. His 1305 strikeouts rank fourth on the all-time Cleveland record list.

The fan-favorite pitcher was packaged with Francisco Lindor when they were traded to the New York Mets. The two teams finally faced off against one another for the first time since the blockbuster swap went down.

Carrasco was the Mets' starting pitcher on Friday night and the Cleveland Guardians wasted no time reintroducing themselves to their former pitcher.

The Guardians got to him in the first inning with three runs thanks to a three-run shot from Josh Naylor. Cookie went on to pitch five innings allowing five earned runs and just three strikeouts.

Can't believe it's already the 8th inning.#ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/1gd2chmTbj

— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) May 19, 2023

Before the game, Terry Francona said, "I hope we beat his brains out tonight, but, I love the kid."

Carrasco is at the tail end of his career and is nothing like the pitcher he once was in Cleveland. But he'll always hold a special place in fans' hearts for the memories such as the 2016 World Series run that fell short and for the support they gave Cookie as he battled leukemia in 2019.

He may be in a different uniform, but that won't change his impact on Cleveland. 

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Photo Credit © Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports