Carlos Carrasco of the Indians was making his first start in two seasons on Tuesday. He made it a memorable one, and possibly his last for a while.
Carrasco hadn’t pitched since the 2011 season because he was recovering from Tommy John surgery. But in his last outing in 2011, he was suspended for hitting the Royals’ Billy Butler with a pitch.
So what did Carrasco do in his return to the big leagues? He got thrown out of the game for hitting a batter with a pitch.
Carrasco was ejected in the fourth inning for hitting New York’s Kevin Youkilis — one pitch after giving up a home run to Robinson Cano — and the Yankees connected for five homers in a 14-1 rout of the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday night.
Carrasco had tears in his eyes after the game.
“I’m really sorry,” Carrasco said, explaining that he slipped on the pitch that drilled Youkilis. “I’m coming from a six-game suspension, I don’t want to do anything real bad and I’m just telling the truth. That’s what happened.”
Carrasco (0-1) Carrasco gave up five runs in three innings — all with two outs. He retired the first two in the fourth and walked Gardner. Cano then hit a deep shot to left field to make it 7-0, and Carrasco’s next pitch was high and tight on Youkilis, who had no chance of ducking from the fastball.
“I feel really bad,” Carrasco said. “I know it doesn’t look good. I just went to the office and apologized to Tito. I don’t want to do anything like that. I just waited a year and a half. I don’t want to be suspended again.”Indians manager Terry Francona understood why Carrasco was tossed and why the Yankees were unhappy.
“It didn’t look good,” Francona said. “I understand the umpire’s viewpoint. I think if you look at the video, he slipped. If you’re on the other side, I understand it. But that’s what happened.”
