Carlos Carrasco struggles again in Mets' loss to Marlins
Carlos Carrasco of the Mets reacts on the mound during the first inning against the Marlins at Citi Field on Sunday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Carlos Carrasco was terse, and his response left no room for argument.
“I’m not worried about the velocity right now,” he said after the Mets’ 7-2 loss to the Marlins on Sunday at Citi Field.
After two starts this season, he’s established a pattern of fastballs and sliders about 2 mph lower than last season’s average.
Still, Carrasco said, “I feel really good right now. The more important thing right now is giving the team the opportunity to win some games.”
It was a dour conversation after a dour day — one in which Carrasco didn’t quite manage to give the Mets that opportunity (not that their offense did much to deserve one).
There was the velocity dip on all five of the pitches he threw, yes, but also struggles with location and command.
And though he didn’t suffer through the pitch clock violations that stung him in his start against the Brewers, he nonetheless was rocked by a less potent lineup. He gave up six runs and six hits — including two home runs — with three walks and one strikeout in 4 2⁄3 innings. His ERA inched up to 11.42.
Carrasco’s fastball averaged 91.3 mph, with one clocking in at 89.9 mph in his final inning — an average 1.9-mph drop from last year. The slider was down 1.9 mph, too, with a slight reduction in spin rate on his slider and changeup. He also didn’t get much help from his offense, which totaled nine hits but stranded 10 men and was 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position.
“He didn’t really have a feel for a split the whole day,” Buck Showalter said. “He kept trying to find it and he couldn’t land it . . . He’ll be better.”
That’s been the company line over both of Carrasco’s starts — the idea that nothing is actually wrong and that this is part of a process.
After his start against the Brewers, Carrasco said he felt a little fatigued because of how the pitch clock sped up the game. This time, that wasn’t an issue, he said. Instead, he hung an 0-and-2 slider to Bryan De La Cruz in the first inning for a three-run home run. In the fifth, he gave up a 404-foot two-run moon shot to Garrett Cooper, also on a slider.
“We have to make an adjustment,” Carrasco said. “Today, I felt fine. I feel back to where I used to be . . . I just need to go out there and pitch.”
That wasn’t even all the bad news the Mets got.
Down 3-0 in the bottom of the first, they lost Starling Marte to an injury. He doubled with one out and stole third, but in doing so, he collided headfirst with Jean Segura’s knee. After a lengthy visit with trainers, he finished the inning but was removed in the second with what the Mets called a neck strain. He’s day-to-day and also will be monitored for the possibility of a concussion, Showalter said.
With two on and one out in the second, Francisco Alvarez provided one of the few bright spots in his first at-bat of the season. He went to the opposite field on a 1-and-2 sinker for a single that drove in Mark Canha from third and drew the Mets to within 3-1.
Alvarez had a chance to play hero again in the fourth with runners on second and third and one out, but this time Braxton Garrett fed him a steady diet of breaking balls. Alvarez eventually swung through a slider for strike three. Tim Locastro hit a liner to left and De La Cruz made a snazzy grab to strand the tying runs.
In his first game since being called up on Thursday for injured catcher Omar Narvaez, Alvarez went 1-for-4 with two strikeouts. On defense, he allowed all five stolen-base attempts and committed a throwing error in the eighth.
The Marlins scored three runs in the fifth on Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s RBI single and Cooper’s two-run shot.
Carrasco threw 83 pitches, including 45 for strikes, and the Marlins swung and missed at just three of his pitches.
The Mets added a run in the fifth on Pete Alonso’s RBI single — his 11th RBI of the year — but left the bases loaded when Eduardo Escobar, representing the tying run, grounded into a forceout at third. De La Cruz’s sacrifice fly off Stephen Nogosek in the seventh provided the final margin.
“We’ll look at it later,” Showalter said of Carrasco’s velocity. “Some of them are two-seams that someone might be putting down as four-seams. For me, it’s the split and some of the location. You don’t see Carlos hang a slider 0-and-2. That’s just not him.”
For the Mets’ sake, they’d better hope that’s true.
Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.
