Observations From Thursday's Cleveland Indians Intersquad Scrimmage at Progressive Field

The Cleveland Indians will finally play an opponent other than themselves this weekend when they head to Pittsburgh to play the Pirates Saturday at PNC Park, but Thursday it was another intersquad scrimmage with a number of highlights as the “home” Indians walked away with a 6-3 win at Progressive Field.

Carlos Carrasco got the start for the “home” Tribe, going five innings allowing three runs on six hits with a walk and five K’s.

Logan Allen got the start for the “visiting” Indians, and he threw well in going four innings and allowing three runs on just a pair of hits.

Here are some observations from another warm and humid night at the ballpark as the Indians will scrimmage on Friday before going to Pittsburgh Saturday.

Carlos Getting Ready

Indians number three starter Carlos Carrasco continues to amp up and get ready for the start of the regular season in eight days.

Carrasco is in line to be the starter for the July 26 game against the Royals at Progressive Field. He will get one more intersquad start scheduled for Tuesday the 21.

“I thought he competed well, his breaking pitches were effective,” Indians pitching coach Carl Willis said.

“He made some mistakes with his fastball, but it was an extremely long day for him (due to the team meeting Thursday afternoon), but he really changed speeds effectively.”

Carrasco’s “mistakes” included allowing a solo homer to catcher Beau Taylor in the third inning, and he also hit a pair of batters and threw a wild pitch in the effort.

“I feel great,” Carrasco said. “My slider today was a big difference from last year and even my last start, I’ve really been working on that.”

Carrasco said that he will throw six innings in his final tune-up to the regular season on the 21st.

“I just want to pitch in real games,” Carrasco said.

Zimmer Stays Hot

For the fourth time in four days and third time in two days Bradley Zimmer went deep for the Indians, hitting a two-run homer in the fourth inning to give the “visiting” Indians a 3-2 lead at the time.

Zimmer reached base all three times he was up, walking in his first at-bat against Carrasco, and then getting hit by a pitch in the 6 and final inning by reliever James Hoyt.

He scored one batter later when Greg Allen took Hoyt deep to give the “home” Indians a three-run lead at 6-3.

The Tribe outfielder continues to impress as he tries to put the injury issues that limited him to playing in just nine games a season ago behind him.

Now at 27 years old, Zimmer is in the mix with the likes of Allen, Delino DeShields (when healthy), Oscar Mercado and even Tyler Naquin to get playing time in center field.

Many forget that Zimmer made some amazing plays in the outfield during his rookie campaign in 2017, and while injuries have derailed his career the last two seasons, he’s hopeful that he can make the roster and be a big part of the team in 2020.

How About Allen

Logan Allen got the call to start for the “visiting” Indians and pitched pretty well, allowing three runs on just a pair of hits in four innings of work.

“His delivery has improved tremendously,” Willis said of Allen. “Tonight he threw the ball really well, his misses were close misses.”

Allen did have some command issues in the second inning when he walked three batters including two in a row as a walk to Greg Allen scored a run.

He was able to get out of the bases loaded jam getting Carlos Santana to fly out to left to end the inning without any further damage.

He came back with a 1-2-3 third inning, and made a mistake to Zimmer in the fourth allowing a two-run blast to left field that made it 3-2 for the “Home” Indians.

Allen should be one of the arms out of the pen when the season starts on July 24th at Progressive Field against the Royals.

Domingo Getting More Comfortable

Indians offseason pickup Domingo Santana continues to look a lot better at the plate, as this week he hit the team’s first grand slam of “Summer Camp.”

Thursday hitting in the five-hole behind Franmil Reyes for the “Home” Indians he went 2-for-3 with a pair of singles, one of which brought in a run, and a walk to leadoff the sixth and final inning.

In nine games (25 plate appearances) in spring training in March he hit just .200 with no homers and three runs batted in.

It seems the grand slam gave him a boost of confidence that was much needed as he will be one many outfielders competing for playing time.

“It felt really good just to hit the ball in the air,” Santana said Thursday of the grand slam. “I was trying to keep it simple and drive the ball.”

Santana last season with the Seattle Mariners hit .253 with 21 homers and 69 RBI. The Indians grabbed him late in free agency with the hope of him providing some pop to the team’s lineup.

“I’m starting to feel more confident, I tell myself to be patient and not to try and do too much,” Santana said.

“I have to tell myself to calm down.”