Indians 2, Astros 0
Carlos Carrasco struck out a career-high 12 in his first career shutout as visiting Cleveland blanked Houston.
Carrasco (8-5) yielded just two infield singles while walking one as the Indians remained five games behind the Kansas City Royals for the second American League wild card. Yan Gomes drove in two runs to support his batterymate while Michael Brantley had two hits and scored once for Cleveland.
Brett Oberholtzer (5-12) had his own strong performance overshadowed by Carrasco as he surrendered two runs on seven hits in 7 2/3 innings without walking a batter for the Astros. Jose Altuve recorded the two hits – his 212th and 213th of the season – for Houston.
Carlos Santana doubled with two out in the fourth and came around to score on Gomes’ single when the throw to home was off the mark. The Indians rallied with two out again in the sixth when Gomes sliced a liner to right that Jake Marisnick missed on the dive, allowing the ball to roll all the way to the wall for an RBI triple.
Carrasco retired 17 in a row between Altuve’s infield hit leading off the fourth and his second infield hit with two out in the ninth. The right-hander finished his night off by striking out Dexter Fowler on his 98th pitch.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Indians OF Ryan Raburn was shut down for the rest of the season and will need surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee. … Cleveland 2B Zack Walters (ribs) missed his second straight game and is day-to-day. … Altuve finished 2-for-4, giving him seven straight multi-hit games and raising his major league-leading batting average to .344.