The Cleveland Indians' starters are so good right now, they're beginning to feel pity for the club's underused relievers.
On Saturday, Carlos Carrasco became the latest Indians starter to throw a gem, allowing just four hits over nine scoreless innings to help Cleveland beat Detroit 6-0 for its eighth straight victory. Carrasco's third career shutout also marked the third time in four contests an Indians starter has thrown a complete game.
The only pitcher who didn't factor into the Indians' impressive run of complete-game outings was Danny Salazar, who still managed to secure the win after allowing three runs over 5 2/3 innings Friday in Detroit. Alas, the hard-throwing right-hander apparently had a good excuse for handing the ball over to the bullpen early.
"The reason I didn't throw a complete game is I wanted the relievers to play, too," Salazar joked to Cleveland.com's Zack Meisel after the Indians' victory Saturday.
Date | Pitcher | Opp | IP | H | ER | BB | SO |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
6/21 | Corey Kluber | TB | 9.0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 9 |
6/22 | Trevor Bauer | TB | 9.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 10 |
6/24 | Danny Salazar | @DET | 5.2 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 3 |
6/25 | Carlos Carrasco | @DET | 9.0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 7 |
To nobody's surprise, it's been the Indians' rotation that has fueled the season-high winning streak that has Cleveland ahead of Kansas City by five games in the AL Central. Indians starters, as noted by Meisel, have a 1.78 ERA during the streak and a 2.62 mark in June.
"Everything that we're working on in the bullpen, we're bringing into the game," Carrasco told MLB.com. "We've got a little bit of competition between us. 'OK, so (Corey) Kluber and (Trevor) Bauer had a complete game, let's do that, just try to put zeros on the board and try to go deep in the game.'"