Balanced Attack Backs Carrasco (11 K's) by Jason Beck
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Balanced attack backs Carrasco (11 K's) By Jason Beck and William Kosileski / MLB.com | July 7th, 2017 + 45 COMMENTS CLEVELAND -- Carlos Carrasco beat the Tigers for the third time in four meetings this season, aided by a heaping helping of Indians offense. Michael Brantley's two-run double, Lonnie Chisenhall's two-run homer and Francisco Lindor's two-run triple powered the Tribe to an 11-2 win Friday night at Progressive Field. "It was just a nice game to see the guys play the way they did," said bench coach Brad Mills, who's managing the Tribe while Terry Francona recovers from a heart procedure. "Offensively, Brantley had some big at-bats, he could have had even a bigger night. We had big hits all the way around. Shoot, [Bradley Zimmer] had a good night. [Chisenhall] had that big blow that really kind of gave us a couple extra runs as a cushion there. But there were some good at-bats." Carrasco, who hasn't allowed more than two runs in a game against the Tigers in their past nine meetings, struck out a season-high 11 over seven innings, including all three outs of the fifth and sixth. J.D. Martinez and Miguel Cabrera had RBI singles in the fourth and sixth, respectively. "It's fun [to play behind him]," Lindor said of Carrasco. "I know he's got the stuff to be a No. 1 starter and he deserves to be in the All-Star Game. It's just whenever he goes out there and does what he does best, it's pretty special. It's pretty cool. Whenever you see big league hitters miss the ball by five feet that means he's doing something right." By then, Cleveland was comfortably in front thanks to a third-inning barrage off Jordan Zimmermann, fueled by Brantley's double and Chisenhall's 12th homer. Bradley Zimmer's fifth home run and Lindor's two-run triple began a four-run sixth against Chad Bell and Alex Wilson to put the game away. "Just not a good day pitchwise for us," Tigers catcher Alex Avila. "Behind in a lot of counts, a lot of pitches over the middle of the plate." MOMENTS THAT MATTERED Ramirez keeps it going: Zimmermann nearly survived the third with just two runs allowed thanks to a highlight stop from Jose Iglesias deep in the hole on Jose Ramirez. Iglesias fired against his body, but couldn't get enough on the throw to get Ramirez. The two-out infield single scored Brantley and continued the inning for Chisenhall, who hit Zimmermann's ensuing breaking ball out to right for a 5-0 lead. V-Mart 2K: Victor Martinez became the ninth active Major League player with 2,000 hits. His milestone hit, an opposite-field single off Carrasco in the second, came in the same ballpark where he had his first big league hit 15 years ago as a Tribe September callup. The crowd of 32,307 gave him a standing ovation. "It was really special for me," Martinez said. "I never thought they were going to stand up and clap, but like I said before, this was the organization that gave me a chance to be a professional baseball player, gave me a chance to become a Major Leaguer." More > QUOTABLE "It's starting to come together. I'm sure that he'd like to have the at-bat back in that fourth inning. But at the same time, he had some real good at-bats tonight. He's getting there and making progress and moving in that direction." -- Mills, on Lindor's improved approach at the plate "We all love Victor and what he did for this organization and the quality hitter he is and the type of hitter he is. We were talking in the dugout, we go, 'That's a lot of hits.' And I know there's some guys with 3,000, there's some guys, couple guys with 4,000 or whatever. Man, that's a lot of hits. It couldn't happen to a better guy and that's something. Some of the guys were saying, you kind of wonder if people really understand how many hits that is. That's pretty cool." -- Mills, on Martinez's 2,000th hit SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS The Tigers gave up double-digit runs for the eighth time, with three of those games coming against the Indians. CARRASCO'S IMMACULATE INNING In the fifth, Carrasco threw an immaculate inning. He struck out Nicholas Castellanos, Mikie Mahtook and Iglesias in order, each on three pitches. It marked only the second time in Indians history that a pitcher has recorded an immaculate inning, with the first by Justin Masterson on June 2, 2014, against the Red Sox. "What Carlos [did], I thought it was huge," Mills said. "We had the bases loaded, nobody out and didn't score in the bottom of the fourth. And he came out in the top of the fifth, when you might think the momentum might be swinging or something, he used nine pitches, struck out the side and set them down. That was sure [a] big key." More > WHAT'S NEXT Tigers: Justin Verlander (5-5, 4.96 ERA) revisits his demons at Progressive Field, where he gave up nine runs over four-plus innings in April and ended up searching for hints of pitch-tipping or sign-stealing. He'll face an Indians squad that has hit him around for 18 runs on 24 hits over 14 1/3 innings this season. The Saturday matchup starts at 7:15 p.m. ET. Indians: Right-hander Mike Clevinger (4-3, 3.33 ERA) will take the mound in Saturday's game against the Tigers at Progressive Field. Clevinger will make his second straight start against Verlander after outpitching him Sunday in an 11-8 win. He went six innings and allowed one run on two hits with seven strikeouts, but tied a career high with five walks. Heart procedure sidelines Francona for ASG By Jordan Bastian / MLB.com | July 7th, 2017 + 40 COMMENTS CLEVELAND -- Indians manager Terry Francona knows that his health and leading his team carries more importance than managing the American League in the All-Star Game. Following a heart procedure on Thursday afternoon, Francona informed Major League Baseball that he is pulling out of Tuesday's Midsummer Classic. Francona had an irregular heartbeat addressed in a minor operation, and he is planning on rejoining the Indians in Oakland on July 14 for the start of the second half of the season. Currently resting at the Cleveland Clinic, Francona was in contact Friday with both Chris Antonetti, the team's president of baseball operations, and bench coach Brad Mills, who will manage the AL in his stead. "I visited with Tito this morning, and he's actually feeling really good," Antonetti said. "I think his mind is at ease knowing they were able to perform a successful procedure to get his issue corrected, and now he knows that the path in front of him is just a little rest and recovery and he can get back to doing what he loves." Francona, 58, underwent a cardiac ablation procedure to correct the cardiac arrhythmia, which was detected by doctors who have been monitoring his heart rhythm for the past few weeks. The procedure was deemed a success, and Francona is expected to make a full recovery and be discharged from the hospital within the next few days. Mills, who will continue to serve as the Indians' manager until Francona's return, agreed to step in as the AL manager on Tuesday. Along with five of the team's players, Cleveland's entire coaching staff will make the trip to Miami for the 88th All-Star Game presented by Mastercard. Rays manager Kevin Cash -- Francona's former bullpen coach with the Indians -- will assist Mills and the AL coaching staff. "We were excited to have T be the manager down there," Mills said. "I think the staff is ready to kind of step up and all share in those duties, and we're all excited about it." Prior to the procedure, Francona spent two days undergoing a series of tests at the Cleveland Clinic in an effort to identify what had been ailing him over the past several weeks. Bouts of light-headedness and an elevated heart rate led to the manager prematurely departing two games in June. After each episode, on June 13 and June 26, Francona was briefly hospitalized. Following the second incident, doctors had Francona wear a heart-rate monitor in order to track when and to what extent his condition worsened. On Tuesday, the Indians manager headed to the Clinic again, leaving the managerial duties in the hands of Mills, his longtime friend. "We need him at the helm here -- there's no doubt about it," Indians pitcher Josh Tomlin said on Thursday. "He's a huge part of our success. He knows the game. He knows the players really well. And his presence alone has that sense of calm in the dugout. We obviously want his health to be fine first before he comes back." This year's setback is the latest aspect of Francona's turbulent health history. Shortly after the World Series ended in November, Francona had right hip replacement surgery. On Aug. 9 of last season, the manager experienced chest discomfort during a pregame interview with reporters and then missed that day's game against the Nationals.