by ldh2013 » Wed Jun 22, 2016 8:28 am
NEW YORK -- Asked what pitch worked best against the New York Yankees, Carlos Carrasco gave a most obvious answer. . "Everything," he said. Same goes for most everyone the Cleveland Indians are putting on the mound lately. Carrasco rejoined the Cleveland rotation in fine fashion by throwing five scoreless innings and the Indians nearly tossed another shutout at Yankee Stadium in a 4-1 win Sunday. Jacoby Ellsbury homered with two outs in the ninth off Indians closer Cody Allen, ending New Yorks season-worst scoreless streak at 19 innings. The shot let the Yankees avoid a dubious distinction -- not since 1999 had they been blanked in two straight games, STATS said. "That was a really fun day to watch," Cleveland manager Terry Francona said. "Everyone came in and did their job." Jason Kipnis got three hits and scored three runs as the Indians finished 4-3 against their fellow AL wild-card contender -- only twice in the last 22 years has Cleveland taken the season matchup. A day after Cleveland pitchers combined on a five-hit shutout and struck out 15 Yankees, Carrasco (4-4) and four relievers dominated with another five-hitter. "When you play the Yankees, you feel it in your body," he said. "You want to throw a shutout." Carrasco allowed just two singles, walked none, struck out four and retired his last 11 batters. Pitching in place of the recently demoted Danny Salazar, Carrasco made his first start since being banished to the bullpen in late April. Carrasco had gone 0-12 in 17 starts since 2011 -- shortly before his last win, he pitched seven scoreless innings at Yankee Stadium. He missed the 2012 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery. The right-hander threw from the stretch all game, firing a 96 mph with his first pitch, and met catcher Yan Gomes for hand slaps and back pats outside the dugout after the final out in the fifth. The Indians longest shutout streak of the season left Yankees manager Joe Girardi without a guess on what went wrong. "Not really sure," he said. "We just didnt swing the bats very well today." Cleveland evened its record at 59-59 by taking advantage of a surprisingly shaky Hiroki Kuroda (7-8). Normally one of baseballs best control pitchers, he walked a season-high four, hit a batter and threw a wild pitch. Kuroda issued his first bases-loaded walk since he was a major league rookie in 2008, STATS said. Gomes drew that walk for a 3-0 lead in the fifth and added an RBI single in the seventh. Michael Brantley drove in Clevelands first two runs with a single and a sacrifice fly. TRAINERS ROOM Indians: OF David Murphy (oblique) and DH-1B Nick Swisher (knee) went on the 15-day disabled list and OF Tyler Holt and INF-OF Zach Walters were promoted from Triple-A Columbus. Walters, acquired July 31 in the trade that sent shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera to Washington, started in left field in his Cleveland debut. Walters went 0 for 3 with a walk and had little action in the outfield as the Indians pitchers stayed in control. "I picked some good daisies out there," he said. Yankees: 1B Mark Teixeira returned to the lineup after missing three straight games because of an injured left pinkie. He went 1 for 4. UP NEXT Indians: In a scheduling quirk, Cleveland gets three off-days in the next eight days. The Indians host Arizona starting Tuesday night, with LHP T.J. House (1-3, 4.13) facing Diamondbacks RHP Josh Collmenter (8-6, 4.09). House has allowed three or fewer runs in seven straight starts. Yankees: LHP Chris Capuano (1-2, 3.91) starts Monday night at Camden Yards as New York begins a six-game trip to AL East-leading Baltimore and division rival Tampa Bay. Capuano has pitched well since being acquired from Colorado last month, yet is winless in his last nine starts overall. SPEEDING ALONG Jacoby Ellsbury stole his 30th base, swiping second without a throw after a single in the Yankees first. He led the majors with 52 steals last year for Boston, and is a three-time AL stolen base champ. WALK THIS WAY Indians 1B Carlos Santana drew his majors-leading 82nd walk. He became the 22nd player in big league history to walk 400 times in his first five seasons, and the first since both Albert Pujols and Adam Dunn did it in 2005. SHOPPING SPREE Walters had a signed Derek Jeter jersey hanging in his locker after the game. Walters walked nine blocks -- "those blocks are really long here," he said -- on Saturday night to buy the souvenir at a store, then got it autographed Sunday by the Yankees star he called "an idol." . The former Detroit Red Wings captain was named to the Order of Hockey in Canada on Wednesday along with former womens national team captain France St-Louis and legendary university coach Clare Drake. . The visitors failed to create any chances of note until Nuri Sahin tested Braunschweig keeper Daniel Davari with a well-placed free kick in the 28th minute. Aubameyang opened the scoring three minutes later, when Robert Lewandowski played a one-two with Marco Reus and lifted the ball over the outrushing goalkeeper for him to head into the unguarded net. . David Legwand had a goal and an assist, and Detroit held off the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 to move into seventh place in the Eastern Conference. DENVER -- David Lees season came to a painful end the last time he played in Denver. He put that memory to rest in his return. Lee had 28 points and 10 rebounds for his ninth straight double-double, leading the Golden State Warriors past the Denver Nuggets 89-81 on Monday night. Stephen Curry, battling foul trouble much of the night, added 14 points in the first meeting between the teams since the Warriors, as the sixth seed, ousted third-seeded Denver 4-2 in the first round of the playoffs last spring. Lee tore his right hip flexor in the fourth quarter of the first playoff game, missing the rest of the Warriors post-season run. "The last time I played in this building wasnt the greatest result," Lee said. "I got injured, so I wanted to come out tonight, put that behind me and attack the basket early, get any thoughts of that kind of stuff out of the way. I had some success early and I just tried to be consistent throughout the game." Klay Thompson scored eight of his 13 points in the fourth quarter, helping Golden State overcome a fourth-quarter deficit for the fourth time this season and sending the Nuggets to their season-high fourth consecutive loss. The Warriors also got a strong game from Andre Iguodala, a former Nugget who hit a key 3-pointer late in the game and finished with 12 points while shrugging off the constant boos from the crowd. "It wasnt that bad," he said. "Its just our day and age in sports. Theres so many transactions, and fans are so into it now with the media, being so close to the game, you see it a lot more." For all the noise and attention over his return, it was the game that Lee put together in his first game back in Denver that made the difference for the Warriors, Iguodala said. "He went to work for us early to get us our lead and when we hit a little bit of a drought, we went back to him and he kind of got us out of it," Iguodala said. "Hes been doing a great job of wracking up those double doubles and being a go-to guy." Ty Lawson had 16 points to lead Denver, which was outscored 25-15 in the final period. Andre Miller and Timofey Mozgov hadd 14 points apiece. . "We didnt have a good game," Miller said. "We havent had a good month. We need better practices. We need to get better when we come back from Christmas. It is always frustrating when you are struggling." Mozgov also had 11 rebounds while starting in place of injured of Kenneth Faried, who was held out of the game to rest a sprained ankle. The Nuggets used a 10-run, capped by successive 3-pointers by Lawson and Wilson Chandler to go in front 55-52 midway through the third quarter for their first lead of the game. Nate Robinsons stepback jumper gave Denver a 64-62 lead going into the fourth quarter, and the game remained tight throughout the period. After Miller made one of two free throws pulling the Nuggets to within 80-78, Iguodala, a former Nugget, drained a 3-pointer to give the Warriors a five-point edge with 3:19 remaining. Miller made a jumper for Denver with 2:24 left and the teams traded turnovers before Chandlers attempt at a game-tying 3 with 42 seconds left to play hit the rim and bounced away. The Warriors responded with a turnaround jumper by Thompson to help seal the win with 22.6 seconds remaining. "I dont think we are playing with the confidence and the sense of urgency it takes to win," Miller said. "We have to figure out the way to get our confidence back and share the ball a little better." The Warriors led by as many as 15 points in the first quarter but settled for a 47-43 halftime lead, getting consecutive baskets by Lee in the last minute of the second period after the Nuggets evened the score on a driving dunk by Mozgov. Golden State had a 30-point first quarter but had barely half that in the second, when the Warriors were held to 17 points. It was their lowest scoring second quarter since being held to 13 against San Antonio on Nov. 8. NOTES: Mozgov has three double doubles this season. ... The Warriors missed their first eight free throws of the game before Lee connected on a pair with 1:09 left in the third quarter. ... Andrew Bogut had 11 rebounds to go with his four points. It was his ninth straight game with double digit rebounds. ' ' '
