Indians' tough luck continues with Carlos Carrasco lost for season
Saturday has been a dreadful day for playoff contenders with seemingly loaded starting rotations.
First, the New York Mets revealed that Jacob deGrom will likely require season-ending surgery on his ulnar nerve in his pitching elbow. That puts him on the shelf along with Matt Harvey and Zack Wheeler. Now comes word from Cleveland that right-hander Carlos Carrasco is out for the season with a non-displaced fracture of fifth metacarpal in his right hand, which is his pitching hand.
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Carrasco suffered the injury on the second pitch of Saturday’s game against the Detroit Tigers. Detroit leadoff man Ian Kinsler hit a rocket line drive that Carrasco simply could not avoid. It wasn’t one of those instances where a pitcher instinctively reaches out, leading to an unfortunate injury. Carrasco had just finished his follow through and had no where to go.
Indians right-hander Carlos Carrasco leaves Saturday’s game after suffering a non-displaced fracture of the fifth metacarpal in his pitching hand. (Getty)
It’s the second significant injury Carrasco has sustained this season, though neither has involved his elbow or shoulder. On April 24, he suffered a strained left hamstring while covering first base in another game against Detroit. That injury ended up costing him six weeks, but it didn’t impact his effectiveness. Through 24 starts before Saturday, he’d posted a 3.32 ERA, which arguably made him Cleveland’s most consistent starter.
Any way you slice it, it’s a tough break and a big loss for the Indians. That’s not said in jest, either. We want every team to be represented by their best players during crunch time. Now Cleveland is down two-thirds of its big three in the starting rotation with Carrasco joining Danny Salazar on the sidelines. On Monday, we learned Salazar would miss at least three-to-four weeks with a mild strain of the flexor muscle. His best-case scenario would have him back mid-October, perhaps after the ALDS.
The Indians injuries don’t stop with the starting rotation either.
Indians keep getting tested. Brantley. Gomes. Salazar. Now Carrasco. Cleveland has overcome a lot this year, but this is a huge blow.
— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) September 17, 2016
Of course, Michael Brantley is done for the season after his second shoulder surgery. Yan Gomes was also ruled out for the season on Saturday after suffering a broken wrist during a rehab game.
The hits keep on coming, but the Indians have survived so far. They entered Saturday with a seven-game lead over the Tigers in the AL Central.
Based on their resilience, they should be able to survive the regular season. Once the playoffs roll around though and it’s Corey Kluber versus the World, we’ll see just how resilient they can be.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
