423 days later, Cookie's starting return stellar

CLEVELAND — Even when Carlos Carrasco made his emotional return to the mound as a reliever last September after having to step away from the game for three months to battle leukemia, he knew that his first start would be even sweeter. It’s been 423 days since Carrasco last toed

CLEVELAND — Even when Carlos Carrasco made his emotional return to the mound as a reliever last September after having to step away from the game for three months to battle leukemia, he knew that his first start would be even sweeter.

It’s been 423 days since Carrasco last toed the rubber in a Major League game as a starter, but the 33-year-old couldn’t have looked more at home. In six-plus stellar frames, the righty allowed two runs on five hits with one walk and 10 strikeouts, helping lead the Indians to a 9-2 victory over the Royals on Sunday afternoon at Progressive Field.

• Box score

Throughout Summer Camp, Carrasco struggled with his velocity, averaging 88-90 mph on his fastball through his first two intrasquad outings — a faltering he attributed to early camp rust. But in his last tune-up before the regular season on Tuesday, his velocity crept back up towards the usual 94 mph territory, and that carried through to Sunday, as he averaged 93.9 mph on 25 fastballs.

Other than not having fans in the stands to give him the roaring ovation that he would’ve rightfully deserved, Carrasco couldn’t have asked for a much better return to his usual role. After the club’s offense got off to a brutally slow start in the first two games, collectively slashing .145/.264/.177, the bats came alive to back Carrasco, no more so than via a two-homer afternoon for José Ramírez — the fifth time in his career that he launched a home run from each side of the plate.