CLEVELAND — After nearly an entire game of frustration facing Corey Kluber on Friday night, the Mariners offense was anxious to see someone else on the mound to take out some of their hitting frustrations.
And that unfortunate pitcher was Indians starter Carlos Carrasco. Seattle hitters knocked Cleveland’s No. 2 starter out of the game early, scoring five runs in three innings, including two homers in the first inning, and then proceeded to rough up the Indians bullpen in a 12-4 trouncing on a frigid Saturday afternoon at Progressive Field.
The 12 runs were a season high. It was the third time this season the Mariners have scored 10 or more runs and the 12th time they’ve scored five or more runs. They are 10-2 in those games.
The pummeling of Cleveland pitching started from the first at-bats of the game.
Dee Gordon singled to left field on the second pitch of the game and watched as Jean Segura clubbed a 2-0 fastball from Carrasco over the wall in center field for his second homer of the season.
Two batters later, Nelson Cruz made it 3-0 in impressive fashion. Cruz smashed a 1-0 fastball over the wall in deep right-center for his fifth homer of the season. MLB statcast measured the blast at 428 feet.
The top of the Mariners lineup continued to rake over Carrasco in their second plate appearances. Gordon was hit by a pitch and pushed his American League-leading stolen base tally to 10 with a swipe of second. Segura followed with a single and Cruz scored both runners, sitting on a curveball and hitting a rocket of a single into left field to make it 5-0.
Indians manager Terry Francona pulled Carrasco after just three innings and 64 pitches. Carrasco is one of the top starters in the American League. Last season, he posted an 18-6 record with a 3.29 earned-run average and 226 strikeouts in 200 innings. Coming into Saturday, Carrasco was 4-0 with a 2.31 ERA in six starts. He came into the game having allowed just two runs in his previous three starts and 231/3 innings pitched.
But for some reason, the Mariners have hit him hard. They scored five runs off him at Safeco Field in the second game of the season with Cruz and Mitch Haniger hitting homers. Carrasco still got the win in that game. But the Mariners are responsible for eight of the 13 earned runs he’s allowed this season.
The Mariners showed they were equal opportunity in their run-scoring. They touched up Carrasco’s replacement, Zach McAllister, for five runs in the fourth inning, including a two-run single from Segura, an RBI double from Robinson Cano and a two-run homer from Kyle Seager to make it 10-1.
Cruz went 4-for-5 with two runs batted in. Segura had three hits and tied a career high with four RBIs.
Given plenty of run support and coming off abysmal outings in his previous two starts, veteran right-hander Mike Leake gave the Mariners a much better outing. Leake pitched six innings, allowing four runs on six hits with a walk and six strikeouts to improve to 3-2 on the season.
