Carlos Carrasco had five good innings and one bad inning Wednesday at Target Field. Against the AL Central champion Twins, that wasn't good enough.
UPDATED: 6:30 p.m.
Shin-Soo Choo made this catch of Denard Span's drive in the fifth inning of Wednesday afternoon's game at Target Field. The Indians held a 1-0 lead at the time, but the Twins continued their two-out magic in the later innings to complete the sweep of Cleveland with a 5-1 win.ON DECK: INDIANS VS. KANSAS CITY ROYALS
Where: Progressive Field.
When: Thursday through Sunday.
TV/radio: SportsTime Ohio; WTAM AM/1100.
Pitching matchups: RHP Sean O’Sullivan (2-6, 6.58) vs. RHP Mitch Talbot (9-12, 4.58) Thursday at 7:05; RHP Luke Hochevar (6-5, 4.79) vs. RHP Josh Tomlin (4-4, 4.73) Friday at 7:05 p.m.; RHP Zach Greinke (9-13, 4.00) vs. Jeanmar Gomez (3-5, 4.96) Saturday at 7:05 p.m. and LHP Bruce Chen (11-7, 4.69) vs. RHP Fausto Carmona (12-14, 3.79) Sunday at 1:05 p.m.
Season series: The Indians are 7-7 against the Royals. Indians lead, 280-271, overall.
Indians update: Last weekend, they took two out of three at Kauffman Stadium. Shin-Soo Choo had a big series, going 8-for-12 with four homers and 10 RBI. Tribe is hitting .293 with 15 homers against the Royals this year.
Royals update: They’re hitting .300 as a team against the Indians. Mike Aviles had a big series against the Tribe last weekend, hitting .429 (6-for-14) with two homers and three RBI. Hochevar beat the Tribe on Sunday, while O’Sullivan lost Friday. Joakim Soria has saved four of the Royals’ seven wins against Indians.
Injuries: Indians — C Carlos Santana (left knee), RHP Anthony Reyes (right elbow) and CF Grady Sizemore (left knee) are on the disabled list. 2B Jason Donald (right index finger) and SS Asdrubal Cabrera (left wrist) are day to day. Royals — OF David DeJesus (right thumb), C Jason Kendall (right rotator cuff) and RHP Kanekoa Texeira (right elbow) on the disabled list. INF Chris Getz (concussion) is day to day.
Next: Tigers complete last homestand of the season with a three-game visit starting Monday.
— Paul Hoynes
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. -- It is customary for a manager to rest his veterans the day after his team clinches a trip to the postseason. After a long season, and a champagne celebration the night before, the older guys deserve a break and an ice bag for their heads.
Manager Ron Gardenhire followed tradition Wednesday afternoon. He let most of his veterans rest and used his bench players in the starting lineup. That those bench players completed a three-game sweep of the Indians with a 5-1 victory at Target Field says a lot about the two franchises.
The Twins, who have won six American League Central titles under Gardenhire, are pointed toward October and the World Series. The Indians are going home for a four-game series against Kansas City to decide last place in the same division the Twins call home.
"They have good starting pitching and a good bullpen," said Shin-Soo Choo of the Twins. "Most of their pitchers can throw strikes with any pitch on any count. They don't walk people and they put pressure on the hitters.
"They've got a great leadoff hitter in Denard Span and great clean-up hitters. Joe Mauer didn't play in any of these three games, and he's the best hitter in the big leagues. Justin Morneau is hurt, but they have Jim Thome. It's a great lineup."
Mauer missed the series with a sore knee. Morneau hasn't played since mid-July because of a concussion. The Indians, who finished 6-12 against the Twins, saw a lot of those qualities Wednesday even though the Twins' big names were resting.
Indians rookie Carlos Carrasco (1-1, 3.03) was fine for five innings. He had a 1-0 lead, while holding the Twins to one hit and three walks.
In the sixth, he lost the shutout and the game as the Twins scored three runs with two outs. They added two more in the seventh against Aaron Laffey to win their 92nd game of the season.
Alexi Casilla started the sixth with a leadoff single. Carrasco struck out the next two batters, but Jose Morales and Matt Tolbert hit consecutive doubles for a 2-1 lead. Ben Revere followed with a single to make it 3-1.
"When I get two outs, I try to be perfect," said Carrasco, who said he was tiring in the sixth. "When I try to be perfect, the ball comes up."
Carrasco said his fastball was faulty Wednesday and that he pitched through the first five innings with his change-up and breaking ball. He threw only 58 percent (53-for-91) of his pitches for strikes.
"We had another good effort by Carrasco," said manager Manny Acta. "Unfortunately, we continued to struggle with our situational hitting. We had an opportunity to give this kid more to work with, but we couldn't get it done."
The Indians gave Carrasco a 1-0 lead in the first off Nick Blackburn (10-10, 5.23) as Shelley Duncan singled to score Drew Sutton from second. They started the second with singles by Matt LaPorta and Luis Valbuena, but Chris Gimenez forced LaPorta at third on a botched sacrifice bunt. After Michael Brantley singled to load the bases, Sutton hit into a double play.
"The whole story of the series is we struggled to push runners across the plate to give our pitchers some breathing room," said Acta. "The Twins showed why they won the division."
The Indians actually hit .325 (8-for-25) with runners in scoring position in the series, but they were outscored, 20-8.
In the seventh, Morales hit a two-run, two-out single off Laffey to complete the scoring. The Twins scored 16 of their 20 runs in the three games with two out. In Monday's 9-3 victory, every run came with two out. Jeanmar Gomez, a rookie like Carrasco, gave up eight.
"Carrasco did the same thing Gomez did," said Acta. "He couldn't make a pitch to get out of the inning with two out."
As to what happened to Carrasco from the first five innings to the sixth, Acta said, "This is the big leagues. That's why starters have the toughest job. They have to go through a lineup three or four times and guys sometimes make adjustments. The main thing is to make a pitch right there."