Carlos Carrasco hit on right elbow by line drive; Indians awaiting scan results

A bad first inning for Carlos Carrasco quickly got worse in the second inning on June 16 when the Indians starting pitcher was hit on the right elbow by line drive off the bat of Minnesota Twins first baseman Joe Mauer.

The ball was traveling at 99.6 MPH when it left Mauer’s bat, according to Statcast.com. Carrasco fell to the ground as he grimaced and clutched his elbow on his pitching arm. He had to leave the game.

X-rays were negative, but Carrasco was taken to Lutheran Hospital for a scan and further examination. The Indians were awaiting results long after the stands in Progressive Field were deserted.

“They did the fluoroscope here, but that’s not intense enough so they took him to the hospital for X-rays,” Indians manager Terry Francona said after the Twins trounced the Tribe, 9-3. “They want to look more. When you look inside a pitcher’s elbow, there’s a lot going on, so they’re going do a scan — probably right now.”

The original diagnoses was a forearm contusion. The Indians will be relieved if the scan reveals no further damage.

Carrasco gave up four runs in the first inning. Mauer was the first batter in the second inning. The ball he hit ricocheted off Carrasco’s elbow directly to first baseman Edwin Encarnacion, who stepped on the bag for the out.

“From where I was standing, I thought it might have hit him in the face,” Francona said. “So there was a little bit of a sense of relief. But it caught him right on that funnybone. He was hurting.”

Carrasco took the loss and fell to 8-5. Francona used five pitchers out of the bullpen to get through the eighth inning. Outfielder Brandon Guyer pitched a perfect ninth inning.

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