Carlos Carrasco. Photo by Ed Delany of Metsmerized
It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows for Carlos Carrasco Saturday afternoon, but he did enough to bring the New York Mets to a slim 3-2 victory in Oakland. Carrasco’s struggles to begin the season were well documented, so a good start on Saturday was a must. The veteran responded and turned in by far his best outing of the young season.
Carrasco’s ERA entering Saturday afternoon’s start was 11.42. He allowed 11 earned runs over just 8 2/3 innings across his first two starts of the season. The miserable performances were aided by seven walks over the 8 2/3 innings. His control evaded him completely to begin the year and the 36-year-old veteran paid dearly.
On Saturday, Carrasco went the deepest into a game he has all season long. Across five innings, he allowed only two runs via four hits. Importantly, he only walked one and had three 1-2-3 innings. Carrasco threw 88 pitches and decreased his 11.42 ERA to 8.56.
As mentioned above, it was certainly not smooth sailing for the former Cleveland starter. Carrasco only generated six swing and misses, further, he allowed five hard hit balls (albeit, a strong improvement over his last two games). Also, despite the only one walk, he hit three batters, which led to heavy traffic in two of his five innings (second and fourth). His control, even though much improved from his first two starts, was still questionable at points.
Regardless of the struggles in the second and fourth innings, this was certainly a start to build on for Carrasco. To put it simply, he was dreadful in his first two starts. And, with Justin Verlander on the horizon, if he turned in another poor outing, his job may have been in jeopardy. Luckily for him, for now, he showed he is still worthy of a rotation spot. Hopefully he can continue to refine his control and become the pitcher the Mets enjoyed for most of last season.
