Bats can't balance Carrasco's few mistakes

The Indians’ 3-0 loss to the Twins on Saturday night at Target Field continued a trend that has emerged in the past few days: The pitching is sturdy as ever, but the bats are still looking for a spark. • Box score The loss marked the first time this season

The Indians’ 3-0 loss to the Twins on Saturday night at Target Field continued a trend that has emerged in the past few days: The pitching is sturdy as ever, but the bats are still looking for a spark.

• Box score

The loss marked the first time this season the Tribe has dropped two games in a row. Over the Indians’ past four contests, they’ve scored a combined three runs.

But the starting pitching, which began the season on a historic run, was strong again. With the bats quiet, Carlos Carrasco walked a tightrope during his 84-pitch outing, which was defined by three solo homers — two by the previously struggling Miguel Sanó, and one by Eddie Rosario.

Carrasco issued one walk and struck out five, moving past Charles Nagy into seventh on the club’s all-time strikeout list with 1,238.

Sanó’s homers were nearly identical in how quickly they left the park. The first homer, a leadoff shot in the third inning and just his second hit of the season, registered a 110.6 mph exit velocity, while his second — another solo homer, this one to lead off the fifth — was clocked at 110.5 mph. They’re the second and third hardest-hit homers Carrasco has allowed since Statcast began tracking this data in 2015, behind only a 115.6 mph homer by Joey Gallo in ‘17.