Carlos Carrasco made his second start of the spring, this outing going better than the first. Carrasco went four and a third innings against an Astros lineup that looked like a potential Opening Day group. Carrasco allowed four hits, two runs, walked one, and struck out five. It was an improvement on his first outing […]
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Photo by Ed Delany of MMO
Carlos Carrasco made his second start of the spring, this outing going better than the first.
Carrasco went four and a third innings against an Astros lineup that looked like a potential Opening Day group. Carrasco allowed four hits, two runs, walked one, and struck out five. It was an improvement on his first outing of the springs – also against Houston – where he allowed three runs in four innings with two home runs.
The Astros jumped all over Carrasco in the first inning. Jose Altuve and Kyle Tucker each singled. Alex Bregman was first-pitch swinging but came up empty, grounding into a double-play that resulted in Altuve scoring from third. Yordan Alvarez ended the inning with a strikeout.
Carrasco was jumped by the Astros again in the second inning. Yuli Gurriel led off with a double, followed by a Michael Brantley flyout, and Chas McCormick single. Houston scored again on a fielder’s choice with Jeremy Pena grounding out to third with Gurriel scoring on the play. Altuve ended the inning with a strikeout.
Carrasco was perfect the second time through the lineup. The first nine batters he faced were 4-for-9 with a walk, a strikeout, and two runs scored. The next nine batters went 0-for-8 with three strikeouts.
In the third inning, Tucker and Alvarez flew out while Bregman struck out swinging. In the fourth, Carrasco induced ground outs from Gurriel and Brantley, then struck out McCormick swinging. Carrasco faced one batter in the fifth, Pena, who he struck out swinging. Sean Reid-Foley entered in relief.
“It’s completely different right now,” Carrasco said. “Last year there was a lot of ups and downs with my hammy and all that stuff, but I came healthy to spring training so I feel ready. The elbow is great, even better than last year.”
Carrasco will need to step up this season with Jacob deGrom already announced as being shut down for the foreseeable future and Max Scherzer with injury concerns of his own.
“We have a lot of pitchers,” Carrasco said. “We have good guys in there and they have good talent so I am pretty sure they are going to go out there and do the job really well. [DeGrom’s injury] happened and there is nothing we can do about it, so I hope he can get better every day and I am pretty sure Scherzer is coming back, so I think he is going to be ready.”
The post Carrasco Strikes Out Five in Second Spring Training Start first appeared on Metsmerized Online.
