The way Carlos Carrasco had been throwing the ball leading up to his activation off the injured list on Sunday had the Mets encouraged.
But it did not translate to the field in his first start back.
Carrasco could not make it out of the third inning on Sunday, getting tagged for five runs (only one earned) on six hits and two walks in 2 ²/₃ innings of a 7-1 loss to the Nationals at Citi Field.
“Carlos was a little rusty, it looked like,” manager Buck Showalter said. “He’d really been throwing the ball as well as he has all year down in his work days getting ready for this. So that was a little unexpected. But you see him give up some 0-2 hits over the heart of the plate, that really hurt him. Just didn’t get a feel for his breaking ball the whole day.”
Carrasco was making his first start since Aug. 15, when he exited a start early with a low-grade left oblique strain. But he bounced back quicker than expected, and after throwing about 55 pitches in a simulated game on Monday, was deemed ready for Sunday’s start.
Carlos Carrasco during his rough outing on Sunday. Robert Sabo for the NY POSTThe Nationals quickly jumped on him in the first inning as Lane Thomas doubled and Luis Garcia singled for a 1-0 lead just five pitches into the game.
Carrasco settled in before getting into trouble again in the third inning. With one out, he gave up an 0-2 single to Thomas on a slider. Carrasco then got a potential double-play ball, but Jeff McNeil bobbled the transfer, allowing both runners to be safe, before Joey Meneses loaded the bases on another 0-2 single.
After Carrasco struck out Luke Voit for the second out, Keibert Ruiz roped a two-run single for the 3-1 lead. Then, after Carrasco walked the light-hitting Cesar Hernandez, Ildemaro Vargas drilled another two-run single to put the Nationals up 5-1, ending Carrasco’s day.
“It’s one of those days that they really got me, so I missed my spots and all that kind of stuff,” said Carrasco, who felt good physically. “Just little mistakes I need to fix because this is the end of the regular season and we need to finish strong.”
Trevor Williams (4 ¹/₃ innings), who had not pitched since Aug. 20, and Tommy Hunter (two innings) combined to pitch the rest of the game, saving the Mets bullpen.
“If we put our best foot forward the next couple days and win games, it’ll be [because of] what those two guys did in a time of need,” Showalter said.
