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by rusty2
Carlos Carrasco not happy with defense in Cleveland Indians' critical loss to Royals
Paul Hoynes, Northeast Ohio Media Group By Paul Hoynes, Northeast Ohio Media Group
on September 23, 2014 at 12:32 AM, updated September 23, 2014 at 2:22 AM
CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Indians may have been denied access to the postseason Monday night by a season-long problem – defense.
First baseman Chris Gimenez and rookie shortstop Jose Ramirez failed to make plays that led directly to two runs. That was one more run than Kansas City needed to beat the Indians, 2-0, in the second game of what amounted to a doubleheader at Progressive Field.
The Indians beat the Royals, 4-3, at 6:05 p.m. as they completed a suspended game from Aug. 31 at Kauffman Stadium. The victory pulled them to within 2½ games of the Royals for the second wild card spot with three games left to play against Kansas City.
In the regularly scheduled game, lefty Danny Duffy and three relievers combined on a seven-hitter to extended their lead back to 3½ games. It was a big blow to the Indians, who have just five games to play.
Carlos Carrasco (8-6, 2.64) pitched just as well as Duffy, but in his eyes the defense let him down.
"Everything was good," said Carrasco, referring to his start. "Everything was perfect right there. We should have made those plays right there. It cost me two runs.
"I thought they had a pretty good chance of making those plays, but sometimes we don't make them and it costs us runs."
Carrasco allowed two runs in 7 1/3 innings. He struck out nine, walked one and allowed seven hits in the loss.
Carlos Carrasco says defense hurt him Carlos Carrasco gave up two runs in a 2-0 loss to Kansas City on Monday night and both runs were tainted by bad defense. Carrasco said first baseman Chris Gimenez and shortstop Jose Ramirez should have made the plays in question.
"I thought Carlos was really good," said manager Terry Francona. "The two runs he gave up both came on hard hit balls, but if we're able to execute plays, shoot, we might still be playing."
The Royals took a 1-0 lead in the first when Eric Hosmer scorched a ball off Gimenez's glove at first base to score Nori Aoki from second. Gimenez was making only his third start at first since being acquired from Texas on Aug. 23.
Kansas City made it 2-0 when Alcides Escobar sent a hard shot off Ramirez's glove in the fifth to score Omar Infante from third. Ramirez was playing in to try and cut off Infante at home, but instead of getting in front of the ball, he tried to play it off to the side.
"The ball that Hosmer hit was scalded," said Francona. "It just hit the end of his glove. The ball to Jose would have been a really nice play. They're makeable, but they happened awfully quick. They were both hit awfully hard."
Francona said Gimenez was playing first because starter Carlos Santana, who DH'd, needed a break. He's been playing with a sore right quadriceps muscle since the start of September.
"I'm so upset with myself," said Gimenez. "Even if you've never played first base before, you should make that play.
"To be honest, he hit it so hard, I just stuck my glove out and it just caught the end of my glove . . .I need to catch that ball."
The Indians lead the big leagues with 113 errors.
