Monday’s outing against the Milwaukee Brewers is one that Carlos Carrasco would like to forget.
Before he even threw a pitch, the New York Mets star pitcher opened up Monday’s 10-0 loss with a pitch clock violation. But, he settled in and only allowed one run over three innings. Things started to go downhill and eventually snowball for Carassco in the fourth inning. The 14-year MLB veteran surrendered a two-run home run to Brewers’ third baseman Brian Anderson in the home half of the fourth inning. With his velocity dipping and veteran reliever Tommy Hunter warming up in the bullpen, Carassco’s afternoon looked over after four innings of work.
Surprisingly, he returned for a fifth inning of work and inexplicably walked both Christian Yelich and Jesse Winker to open the frame. With his velocity dipping into the low 80s, Mets manager Buck Showalter came to get Carrasco, but the book wasn’t closed on him just yet. In his first start of the season, Carrasco allowed five runs in four innings of work with four strikeouts and four walks.
Despite a dip in velocity, Showalter wasn’t exactly concerned by Carassco’s performance.
“They didn’t exactly hit him around a lot. It was multiplied because we weren’t scoring any,” Showalter said via SNY. “Sometimes you score three or four runs, and his outing looks different, but stuff-wise, physically he was good. We got him that fifth up and where his pitch count was, he was just missing on some pitches. They did a good job of laying off a lot of pitches that pitchers need, so I’ve got to tip my hat to them. They did a lot of things to make his path a lot tougher.”
“Not really, that’s just normal,” Showalter added when asked about Carrasco’s velocity. “He’s where he needs to be range-wise, where he normally is for the most part. I haven’t looked at it closely yet. I don’t go much by the guns, they’re normally not very accurate.”
Carrasco also commented on his loss in velocity, pointing out that his pitch count was getting up there and that it’s still relatively early in the season. That may be the case, but it’s certainly worth keeping an eye on as the 36-year-old gets deeper into his season.
[SNY]
