Carrasco Hammered, Ejected as Yankees Rout Indians 14-1

Carlos Carrasco‘s triumphant return to the majors went about as poorly as it possibly could have and the Indians couldn’t get anything going on Andy Pettitte Tuesday night as the Yankees shellacked the Tribe 14-1 to take a 2-0 lead in the four-game series at Progressive Field.

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From the moment Brett Gardner led off the game with a double it was clear that Carrasco was in trouble, and in the second inning the Yankees began to make him pay. Eduardo Nunez and and Lyle Overbay hit back-to-back two-out singles and Carrasco walked Francisco Cervelli to load the bases for Gardner, who drove Nunez and Overbay in with an RBI single. Robinson Cano followed with a bases-clearing double to make it 4-0 Yankees.

It wasn’t just one bad inning. Carrasco served up a solo home run to Ichiro in the top of the third and Cano took him deep for a two-run shot in the fourth. After Cano’s homer Carrasco promptly beaned Kevin Youkilis; it looked like Carrasco had genuinely lost his balance and the way he was pitching it was easy to believe that he had simply missed his target, but nonetheless he was ejected and Brett Myers was brought in to take his place.

Myers, meanwhile, proceeded to pick up where he left off his in his first outing of the season. Youkilis avenged Carrasco’s beanball with a two-run homer in the top of the sixth. Overbay led off the eighth with a solo shot, and before the inning was over Cano had added an RBI double and Brennan Boesch had slammed a two-run home run. A Cerevelli RBI single in the ninth gave the Yankees their 14th run of the ballgame.

Meanwhile, Asdrubal Cabrera hit a solo homer in the bottom of the sixth…and that was it for the Tribe’s offense. Andy Pettitte and Adam Warren didn’t allow any more damage as the Indians lost a (hopefully) forgettable 14-1 rout.

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David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

The Good: Drew Stubbs went 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles, Nick Swisher went 2-for-3, and Asdrubal Cabrera hit a home run. That’s all I’ve got.

The Bad: Where to start? Ah—Carlos Carrasco. Making his first start since August 2011, Carrasco gave up seven runs on seven hits (including two home runs) and two walks in just 3.2 innings before getting ejected for beaning Kevin Youkilis. Whatever the problem was he’d better solve it quickly if he wants to stay in an Indians uniform for long.

Then came Brett Myers. You can’t blame a guy for not being dominant on a night when he wasn’t expecting to pitch (he was scheduled to start Wednesday’s game), but you can expect a big-league pitcher to do better than allowing seven runs (all earned) on 11 hits—including three home runs—in 5.1 innings out of the bullpen. At least the rest of the relief corps is well-rested.

The “Huh?”: Brett Myers’ 2013 ERA actually went down after giving up seven earned runs Tuesday night. Sure puts his first start in perspective.

Interesting Tidbit: Tribe pitchers have now given up five home runs in three of the last nine games the Indians have played. The others: April 4 and last October 3.