Indians, Carrasco (11 strikeouts) shut down Marlins
CLEVELAND -- Carlos Carrasco pitched 7 1/3 scoreless innings and struck out 11 to lead the Cleveland Indians to a 6-2 victory over the Miami Marlins on Friday night at Progressive Field.
Abraham Almonte had two doubles and two RBIs for the Indians, who have won four games in a row.
Carrasco (10-7) allowed six hits and one walk in his first career appearance against Miami and did not allow a runner past second base.
Miami starter Andrew Cashner (4-11) pitched five innings and gave up six runs on six hits with six strikeouts and six walks. In six starts since the Marlins acquired him in a trade with San Diego, Cashner is 0-4 with a 5.57 ERA.
Francisco Lindor and Tyler Naquin each had two hits for the Indians. Miami outhit Cleveland 8-7.
The Indians had an economical first-inning rally in which they sent seven men to the plate, only hit one ball out of the infield but still scored three runs. The inning began with consecutive walks drawn by Carlos Santana and Jason Kipnis. Lindor singled to center, scoring Santana with the first run of the game.
Mike Napoli drew a walk, forcing in Kipnis with the second run of the inning. Jose Ramirez grounded into a forceout at second, but Lindor moved to third on that play and scored the third run of the inning when Lonnie Chisenhall grounded out to first.
Cleveland scored again against Cashner in the second. Naquin led off the inning with a double to right-center field. A sacrifice bunt by Roberto Perez moved Naquin to third, and Naguin scored on a sacrifice fly by Santana to make it 4-0.
The Indians stretched their lead to 6-0 in the fifth. With one out, Ramirez doubled and Chisenhall walked. Almonte drove a double into the gap in right-center field, scoring both runners.
Trailing 6-0, the Marlins scored twice in the eighth inning off reliever Jeff Manship. With one out Martin Prado doubled to right field. J.T. Realmuto then slugged an 0-2 pitch from Manship over the left field wall for his eighth home run, his third hit of the game, cutting the Cleveland lead to 6-2.
NOTES: The Indians are skipping RHP Josh Tomlin's turn in the rotation, which means they need a starter for Monday's game against Houston. Manager Terry Francona said no decision has been made and that it could be a bullpen game. ... RHP Corey Kluber's turn to start would have been Monday, but Francona said Kluber will start Tuesday instead. It's believed the move is being made because by doing so it would allow Kluber to pitch the first game in each of the Indians' two remaining series with Detroit. ... Marlins OF Marcell Ozuna missed his second consecutive game with a left wrist sprain. ... RHP Jose Fernandez, who starts for the Marlins on Saturday, has one career start versus Cleveland, pitching eight scoreless innings on three hits with 14 strikeouts and one walk.