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Major League Baseball
Cleveland 6, Miami 2
When: 7:10 PM ET, Friday, September 2, 2016
Where: Progressive Field, Cleveland, Ohio
Temperature: 71°
Umpires: Home - Nic Lentz, 1B - Mark Ripperger, 2B - Joe West, 3B - Andy Fletcher
Attendance: 24415

CLEVELAND -- Thanks to Carlos Carrasco, there was a lot of swinging and missing going on at Progressive Field on Friday night.

Carrasco pitched 7 1/3 scoreless innings and struck out 11 to lead the Cleveland Indians to a 6-2 victory over the Miami Marlins.

Miami hitters swung and missed at 21 of Carrasco's pitches. He has six consecutive starts with eight or more strikeouts, tying him with Clayton Kershaw for the longest such streak in the majors this season.

During that span, he has 56 strikeouts and four walks.

Abraham Almonte had two doubles and two RBIs for the Indians, who have won four games in a row.

Carrasco (10-7) allowed six hits and one walk in his first career appearance against Miami and did not allow a runner past second base.

"That was good. We value our starting pitching so much, and when guys go out and throw like that ..." Indians manager Terry Francona said.

"The whole game. From pitch one to the last pitch, I was aggressive with every pitch -- fastball, slider, curveball, changeup, everything," Carrasco said.

Miami starter Andrew Cashner (4-11) pitched five innings and gave up six runs and six hits with six strikeouts and six walks. In the six starts since the Marlins acquired him in a trade with San Diego, Cashner is 0-4 with a 5.57 ERA.

Francisco Lindor and Tyler Naquin had two hits apiece for the Indians. Miami outhit Cleveland 8-7.

The Indians had an economical first-inning rally in which they sent seven men to the plate, hitting only one ball out of the infield but scoring three runs. The inning began with consecutive walks drawn by Carlos Santana and Jason Kipnis. Santana was running on the 3-2 pitch to Kipnis, who tried to check his swing.

It appeared that it was strike three, and the throw to second by catcher J.T. Realmuto was in time to complete what would have been a strikeout/throw-out double play.

After some brief confusion, home plate umpire Nic Lentz ruled Kipnis checked his swing, meaning it was ball four, so Santana was safe at second.

Marlins manager Don Mattingly was incensed by the call.

"It made me sick to my stomach," Mattingly said. "Kipnis is walking back to the dugout. It was sickening. How can you miss that call? I don't know that it was missable. He (Lentz) obviously wasn't watching. We're a young team trying to win every game in a pennant race, but I guess these games matter only to us. They don't matter to them. It's sickening. That call changed the whole game."

With runners at first and second, Lindor singled to center, scoring Santana with the first run of the game.

Mike Napoli drew a walk, forcing in Kipnis with the second run of the inning. Jose Ramirez grounded into a forceout at second, but Lindor moved to third on that play and scored the third run of the inning when Lonnie Chisenhall grounded out to first.

"(Cashner) ended up throwing 30 pitches in the inning when he could have been out of it in 12 or 14 pitches," Mattingly said. "That call is unacceptable."

Cleveland scored again against Cashner in the second. Naquin led off the inning with a double to right-center field. A sacrifice bunt by Roberto Perez moved Naquin to third, and Naguin scored on a sacrifice fly by Santana to make it 4-0.

The way Carrasco was pitching, it seemed like an even bigger lead than that.

"He threw so many strikes with his fastball and then he had his breaking ball and changeup to go with it," Francona said. "They're pretty right-handed dominant from five on down, but he really had good stuff."

The Indians stretched their lead to 6-0 in the fifth. With one out, Ramirez doubled and Chisenhall walked. Almonte drove a double into the gap in right-center field, scoring both runners.

Trailing 6-0, the Marlins scored twice in the eighth inning off reliever Jeff Manship. With one out Martin Prado doubled to right field. Realmuto then slugged an 0-2 pitch over the left field wall for his eighth home run of the season and third hit of the game.

NOTES: The Indians are skipping RHP Josh Tomlin's turn in the rotation, which means they need a starter for Monday'sgame against Houston. Manager Terry Francona said no decision has been made and that it could be a bullpen game. ... RHP Corey Kluber's turn to start would have been Monday, but Francona said Kluber will start Tuesday instead. It's believed the move is being made because by doing so it would allow Kluber to pitch the first game in each of the Indians' two remaining series with Detroit. ... Marlins OF Marcell Ozuna missed his second consecutive game with a left wrist sprain. ... RHP Jose Fernandez, who starts for the Marlins on Saturday, has one career start versus Cleveland, pitching eight scoreless innings on three hits with 14 strikeouts and one walk.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Miami   Cleveland
Andrew Cashner Player Carlos Carrasco
Loss W/L Win
5.0 IP 7.1
6 Strikeouts 11
6 Hits 6
10.80 ERA 0.00
Hitting
Miami   Cleveland
J.T. Realmuto Player Abraham Almonte
3 Hits 2
2 RBI 2
1 HR 0
6 TB 4
.750 Avg .500
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
Miami 8 1 13 .229 11 13 2 1 0 0
Cleveland 7 0 11 .241 15 7 6 8 0 0