Carlos Carrasco stifles Giants as Mets take 3 of 4
Mets starting pitcher Carlos Carrasco at the end of the top of the fifth inning against the San Francisco Giants at Citi Field on Thursday, April 21, 2022. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
The first big move of the Steve Cohen Era will always be known as the Francisco Lindor trade.
The Mets also thought they were getting a reliable starting pitcher in Carlos Carrasco, who was acquired in the same Jan. 7, 2021 deal with Cleveland.
Carrasco suffered through injuries and ineffectiveness in his first season with the Mets. But the man they call “Cookie” has been on top of his game so far in 2022, and on Thursday he picked up his first career win at Citi Field as the Mets topped the Giants, 6-2.
Carrasco (1-0, 1.47 ERA) allowed two runs in 7 2/3 innings. The 35-year-old righthander retired 18 in a row starting with the first out of the second inning.
That streak only ended because of a throwing error by Luis Guillorme at short to start the eighth with the Mets leading 5-1. Carrasco shrugged it off and got a double-play grounder out of the next batter, Curt Casali.
Mike Yastrzemski followed with a home run off the second deck in right. Buck Showalter — back in the dugout after a one-game absence to undergo an undisclosed medical procedure — popped out of the dugout to remove Carrasco, who walked off to a standing ovation from the crowd of 28,760.
“He said, ‘Great job,’ and just walked away,” Carrasco said. “I was really happy.”
Carrasco had a lot to be happy about. He allowed four hits, hit a batter and struck out seven in a 91-pitch effort. In 2021, bothered by hamstring and elbow injuries, he went 1-5 with a 6.04 ERA in 12 starts.
“It’s completely different this year,” Carrasco said. “Last year was last year. I had so many injuries last year I couldn’t figure out. But this year, I’m good, healthy.”
Said Lindor: “That’s the Cookie I know. That’s the one I know. He grinds, he competes, pitch after pitch he gets out there and it doesn’t matter who’s on the other side, he can go and compete with the best. Last year was tough for him, but I’m happy he’s back.”
It was Carrasco’s longest outing since he went 7 2/3 for Cleveland on May 4, 2019. It was the longest for a Mets pitcher since Marcus Stroman threw eight innings last July 21.
“I keep talking about Orel Hershiser,” Showalter said. “One to compete, two to win, and three to dominate. That’s a really good lineup. You see a guy continue to be successful third time through the order, that tells you he’s got a lot of weapons at his disposal that day. [Good] tempo and it’s fun to play behind him . . . It’s a crisp approach to it.”
Mets starting pitchers are 8-1 with a 2.10 ERA to start the season. That’s without the injured Jacob deGrom.
And it didn’t take that long: two hours and 35 minutes.
“Two-thirty?” Showalter exclaimed. “Two-thirty? Straight up?”
When told it was 2:35, he said: “OK. Two thirty-five? Now what do you do with yourself the rest of the night?”
The Mets (10-4, first team to 10 wins), who took three of four in the series to end a 5-2 first homestand, flew to Phoenix. They open a two-city, six-game road trip at Arizona on Friday.
Lindor, who was the designated hitter, homered off Anthony DeSclafani (0-1, 6.08 ERA) in the first to give the Mets a 1-0 lead.
The Giants tied it in the second on Thairo Estrada’s RBI single. Carrasco retired the next three batters to start his streak of 18.
Eduardo Escobar hit his first Mets home run to make it 2-1 in the second. Tomas Nido added a sacrifice fly later in the inning.
Mark Canha dropped a two-out, two-run single into left in the third to give the Mets a 5-1 advantage. Brandon Nimmo’s RBI single in the eighth capped the scoring.
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Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
