Carlos Carrasco, who has not been scored upon in his last two starts — both of which were 1-0 Indians’ wins — will go for three wins in a row on Saturday night at Progressive Field when he takes on the Pittsburgh Pirates in the middle game of a three-game interleague series.
Carrasco (6-3, 4.09 ERA) has worked 15.1 innings in his last two outings, surrendering a total of eight hits and four walks to the Twins and the Yankees while striking out 13, and has dropped his ERA over a run per game in the process.
This will be Carrasco’s first-ever appearance against the Pirates.
Pittsburgh will send Paul Maholm to the hill. Maholm (3-7, but with a nice 3.12 ERA) has faced the Tribe twice in his career. In two starts, covering 12 innings, Maholm has given up eleven hits and five walks to go with five runs and 12 K’s, and has a 3.75 ERA against Cleveland.
Maholm shut out the New York Mets through seven innings in his last start and got the win in a 3-1 Pirates’ win. In the game before that Maholm allowed only one hit in six innings against the Diamondbacks but received no decision in a 3-2 Pittsburgh triumph.
As of this writing there is no update on the status of the Indians’ Matt LaPorta, who injured his ankle on Friday night in a rundown between second and third base. When an update becomes available, we will let you know.
The Indians climbed back into first place with their 5-1 win on Friday and Detroit’s loss to the Colorado Rockies. The Tigers will be in action in Denver about an hour after the Tribe and Pirates get underway at 7:05.
The third and final game of this series will be on Sunday at 1:05, before the Rockies come to Cleveland for three games, starting Monday.