Carlos Carrasco made his second impressive start for the Indians on Monday night. He didn't get the decision, but the Indians earned the victory as Shin-Soo Choo singled home Michael Brantley with the winning run in the ninth inning to beat the Angels.
Shin-Soo Choo hits an RBI single in the ninth inning to score the winning run in Monday's game against the Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim.ANAHEIM, CAlif. -- Manager Manny Acta wanted to see consistency, aggressiveness and strikes from Carlos Carrasco on Monday night in his second big league start of the season.
"If he uses his arsenal, if he throws first-pitch strikes, he's going to have success up here," said Acta. "His stuff is that good."
Carrasco didn't get the decision in the Indians 3-2 victory over the Angels, but did show a lot of the things Acta wanted to see. He showed aggressiveness by pitching out of early trouble. He showed consistency and strike-throwing ability by striking out a career-high six batters and throwing 64 percent (61-for-96) of his pitches for strikes.
Then there was the arsenal. He was throwing 80 mph change ups, 85 mph sliders and fastballs ranging from 90 mph to 93 mph.
Shin-Soo Choo, in front of his agent, Scott Boras, won it with a two-out single in the ninth off Fernando Rodney (4-2). Michael Brantley started the rally with a double to center. Rodney hit Asdrubal Cabrera and Choo sent a broken-bat single into right field to score Brantley for the win.
"I hit a change up," said Choo, hitting .350 (7-for-20) against the Angels this season. "I was looking for it. I've faced him at least 10 times. When he misses with the first pitch, he likes to come back with the change up."
Chris Perez earned his 19th save with an 11-pitch ninth inning. He has converted 14 of his last 15 save chances.
The Indians are 3-2 on this trip and Perez has saved all three victories. He says his goal is reach 20 saves.
"You never want to be too confident because this is a very humbling sport," said Acta. "One day you're on top, the next day you're on the bottom.
"But the way Chris is throwing the ball right now, he's got such terrific command of his fastball and slider, it looks like he's not going to get hit."
The win went to Jensen Lewis (4-2), who is very much pitching for a job next season, according to Acta. Lewis relieved Tony Sipp with two out and one on in the eighth and struck out Mike Napoli. Joe Smith started the bullpen roll with a scoreless seventh.
"A very nice ballgame, especially on the road," said Acta. "Carrasco continues to be impressive.
"Choo got the huge two-out hit and the guys came in from the bullpen to get some big outs."
Carrasco, trying to win a spot in the rotation next year, left with the score tied, 2-2, after six innings. He spent five months at Class AAA Columbus where he went 10-6 with a 3.65 ERA in 25 starts.
"This month is very important for me," said Carrasco. "I want to show I can stay here."
Regarding Carrasco and the 2011 rotation, Acta is trying hard not to look too far ahead.
"Let's take it one start at a time," he said, "but if this guy doesn't get hurt, I just can't see why he can't be a big part of what we're trying to build here in our starting rotation.
"If he's consistent for his next four starts in September, we'll have a pretty good idea what we have for next spring training."
Tribe starters are 4-3 with a 3.20 ERA over their last 12 games. They've been averaging just over six innings per start.
"Our starters have had great outings for what seems like the last two weeks," said Perez. "That's huge for us. When they give us five or six every night, Manny is able to match up with us. It's a lot easier to mix and match then."
Torii Hunter homered with one out in the sixth to pull the Angels in a 2-2 tie. Hunter hit a 1-1 pitch over the wall in right center off Carrasco for his 20th homer of the season. Hunter has hit at least 20 homers in nine of his last 10 seasons.
"He got a little happy with his curveball and change up right there," said catcher Lou Marson. "He's got a good fastball and he needs to throw it later in the game."
The Indians had just taken a 2-1 lead in the top of the sixth when Dan Haren lost the strike zone. After Jayson Nix's double, he walked three straight batters. Luis Valbuena worked the bases-loaded walk to score Nix.
Carrasco has a 3.38 ERA in two starts for the Tribe. He's allowed five earned run in 13 1/3 innings.
Haren left after seven innings. He allowed two runs on five hits. He walked four and struck out six.
The Indians took a 1-0 lead in fourth on Shelley Duncan's sacrifice fly to center. Travis Hafner doubled to deep center with one out and went to third on Jayson Nix's single.
It was the Tribe's first run in 17 innings. They were shut out for the 13th time in Sunday's 3-0 loss to Seattle.
Carrasco pitched out of a bases loaded jam in the first by striking out Napoli. He proceeded to retire the next eight Angels he faced before Napoli lined a double to center with two out in the fourth. Carrasco ended that inning by getting Erick Aybar to ground out to second.
The Angels tied the score, 1-1, in the fifth. Rookie center fielder Peter Bourjos bounced a ball past a diving Jayson Nix at third base. Duncan slipped trying to field the ball in the left field corner, but Bourjos, who has big speed, probably would have made it to third anyway.
Alberto Callaspo singled through the right side of the infield to score Bourjos. Callaspo tried to steal second, but Marson threw him out. Marson went into the game leading American League catchers in throwing out basestealers with a 33.9 percent success rate.
The Indians had a chance against Haren in the third when Matt LaPorta and Marson walked with one out. But Brantley flied out to right and Cabrera took a called third strike.