CLEVELAND: The Indians didn’t do the best job of taking advantage of scoring opportunities, but they did enough to support starting pitcher Carlos Carrasco in a 3-2 win over the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday night at Progressive Field.
Much of it was thanks to Mariners starter Wade Miley (0-2) and his sudden loss of the strike zone in the fourth inning. With the Indians already leading 1-0, Miley, who didn’t walk a batter in his first two starts this season, allowed a single to Marlon Byrd and then walked Juan Uribe and Collin Cowgill — the No. 8 and No. 9 hitters in the lineup — to load the bases with one out.
The control issues didn’t stop while the Mariners tried to get a reliever warm in the bullpen. Rajai Davis was then walked to bring a run home and make it 2-0 and after Jason Kipnis struck out, Francisco Lindor walked as well to put the Indians ahead 3-0 despite getting just one hit in the inning.
In the third inning, back-to-back doubles by Lindor and Mike Napoli gave the Indians a 1-0 lead. It partially made up for missing out on scoring opportunities in the first two innings.
Singles by Kipnis and Lindor were wiped out by Napoli grounding out into a double play to end the first inning. In the second, three consecutive singles with one out were for naught after Cowgill grounded into another inning-ending double play.
“Both teams had a lot of base runners early,” Indians manager Terry Francona said. “We especially did. It was nice to see them get patient enough where the bases are loaded and we worked a couple of walks and then made it hold up.”
The Indians had nine hits and walked four times in the first four innings. Given that scenario, three runs does not sound like a huge success, but it was plenty for Carrasco (2-0), who gave up one run on four hits, walked three and struck out five in 6⅓ innings.
He was aided by some outstanding defense by Lindor at shortstop, who made two diving plays — one on each side of second base — to take away two base hits. Napoli added a third diving stop at first base.
While trying to make a defensive play of his own, Carrasco came up hobbling a bit. In the third inning, Mariners second baseman Robinson Cano hit a ground ball to Napoli, who fired to second for the first out. Carrasco tried to get to first base to finish the double play and appeared to step on Cano’s foot or turn his ankle a bit. The trainers came out to talk with Carrasco, but he remained in the game.
Carrasco’s lone blemish came in the sixth, when Mariners third baseman Kyle Seager blasted a solo home run to right field.
The bullpen also held up its end of the bargain. Struggling Bryan Shaw entered in the eighth with a two-run lead. He allowed a one-out double to Cano but got Nelson Cruz to fly out and then struck out Seager to end the inning. It was a solid bounce-back outing for Shaw, who’s had command issues this season.
Cody Allen came on in the ninth and allowed a run after Adam Lind doubled and later scored on a ground ball. With two outs, Allen struck out former Indians outfielder Franklin Gutierrez to earn his fourth save of the season.
Ryan Lewis can be reached at rlewis@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Indians blog at www.ohio.com/indians. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/RyanLewisABJ and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/RyanLewisABJ