ARLINGTON, Texas _ The Indians were monitoring starting pitcher Carlos Carrasco during his start on Tuesday night, just hoping he'd be able to give them four, maybe five innings on up to 85 pitches if all went well.
Carrasco did better than that, and the Indians beat the Texas Rangers 4-3 at Globe Life Park to start the season with back-to-back wins.
Carrasco (1-0, 3.18 ERA) entered the regular season still needing to be fully stretched out after missing time with soreness in his right elbow this spring training. Despite that, the Indians chose to start Carrasco in the rotation and take whatever he could give them.
At least for Tuesday night, it was the right decision. Carrasco lasted 52/3 innings, besting even the optimistic expectations, and needed fewer than his allotted 85 pitches to do it. He allowed two runs on four hits, walked one and struck out seven on 80 pitches while holding an early lead throughout his start.
The Rangers' lone runs off Carrasco came on a prodigious blast by Rangers third baseman Joey Gallo, who crushed a two-run shot deep into the upper deck in right field in the second inning to cut the Indians' lead to 3-2. Other than that no-doubter blasted deep into the Texas night, Carrasco kept a deep Rangers (0-2) lineup off balance. It was precisely the kind of out the Indians hoped to see out of their No. 2 starting pitcher, who continues to work his way toward his normal workload.
Offensively, the Indians (2-0) took the lead on the fourth pitch of the game and never trailed. Facing Rangers left-handed starter Martin Perez (0-1, 4.50), Carlos Santana drilled a home run to right field to lead off the game. It was the sixth time in his career he's led off a game with a home run.
The Indians tacked on two more in the second. With two on, Austin Jackson and Santana hit back-to-back singles up the middle that each brought home a run and put the Indians ahead, 3-0.
Another positive sign for the Indians came in the seventh, still leading 3-2, when Michael Brantley went the other way for a two-out, RBI-single to score Jackson and add an insurance run, one that turned out to be crucial.
After Gallo's home run, Carrasco cruised. Boone Logan recorded an out to end the sixth and Bryan Shaw and Andrew Miller threw scoreless innings to get to Cody Allen in the ninth.
The ninth, in contrast, was not without drama. Nomar Mazara doubled to bring up former Indians first baseman Mike Napoli, who crushed a ball to center field, narrowly missing a game-tying home run. Napoli had to settle for an RBI-double to cut the Indians' lead to 4-3.
Allen then struck out Roughned Odor for the first out, though it came after Odor hammered a ball down the right-field line that narrowly missed being the game-winning homer. Clear of the heart of the Rangers' order and that brief scare, Allen struck out Jurickson Profar looking and blew away Gallo to end the game.
