Carrasco's error upends solid start

Carlos Carrasco started strong, but ran out of gas in his second start of the season for Triple-A Columbus.

Last Thursday, Carrasco (1-0) struck out eight en route to the victory. He allowed one earned run on four hits and five walks while fanning four over 6 2/3 innings, but avoided his first loss as the Clippers rallied past the Louisville Bats, 4-3, on Tuesday night.

"He's got all the pitches," said Clippers pitching coach and Major League veteran Charles Nagy. "He just has to use them in the proper way and be aggressive."

The 23-year-old Venezuelan right-hander made Josh Anderson ground out on the first pitch, fanned Chris Heisey on a sharp breaking slider and got Juan Francisco to chase a slider down and in to end the quick frame.

Danny Dorn -- the only Louisville player to gather a hit for the Bats on Monday -- smacked his third homer to right field against Carrasco in the second inning.

"We're working according to our game plan ... we just have to come up with a better one for Dorn," Nagy said.

Carrasco came up with a Dorn answer in the fourth, throwing him a breaking ball for his fourth strikeout of the night.

Carrasco is one of four Venezuelans in the Clippers rotation. Jeanmar Gomez, Yohan Pino and Hector Rondon are the others. Most of them are on a 90-100 pitch count to start the season.

"All these guys they want to learn, they want to get better," Nagy said. "I'm just trying to stay out of their way right now."

Carrasco got into trouble in the seventh. Zack Cozart led off with a single and stole second. Wilkin Castillo walked and Carrasco threw Corky Miller's bunt errantly to third to plate Cozart and Castillo.

Carrasco worked Heisey to an 0-2 count, but Heisey worked a walk and Carrasco left the game.

Shelley Duncan, the 2009 International League MVP, got Carrasco off the hook with a game-tying RBI single in the bottom of the ninth. Chris Gimenez followed in the 10th with a walk-off homer to left.