CLEVELAND _ Carlos Carrasco was the only Indians pitcher not to turn in a strong starting debut the first turn through the rotation.
He bounced back from it on Saturday, though, and struck out hitters at a record pace in the Indians' 7-2 win over the Toronto Blue Jays at Progressive Field.
Carrasco lasted only five innings, giving up two runs on six hits and a walk. But of the 15 outs he recorded, 12 were via a strikeout. In doing so, he became the first Indians pitcher to strike out 12 batters in only five innings pitched since at least 1908.
The Indians offense, meanwhile, had its best day thus far in 2019.
Greg Allen led off the first inning with a double off Blue Jays starting pitcher Thomas Pannone and later scored on Carlos Santana's RBI single to center field.
Eric Stamets, who went 19 plate appearances this season without a hit, finally notched his first major league hit by driving a double off the left-field wall to open the third inning. Jose Ramirez followed with an infield single and Jordan Luplow walked to load the bases. Hanley Ramirez also drew a walk and with two outs, Jake Bauers slashed a single to left-center field to score two more and put the Indians on top 4-0.
The Blue Jays cut that lead in half in the fifth. Freddy Galvis homered off Carrasco and Randal Grichuk later doubled home a run.
The Indians got those runs back in the bottom half of the inning. Luplow and Santana singled to open the inning and Hanley Ramirez walked to load the bases with nobody out. A wild pitch by reliever Elvis Luciano allowed one run to score and a fielder's choice off the bat of Roberto Perez made it 6-2.
Jose Ramirez in the seventh doubled, stole third and scored on a throwing error by catcher Danny Jansen to extend the Indians' lead to 7-2.
