Phillies righthander Carlos Carrasco tossed his second no-hitter in two years on Tuesday, though the 20-year-old Venezuelan got an assist from Mother Nature at Double-A Reading’s FirstEnergy Stadium.

Carrasco began the game with his first of two walks, retired the next 11 batters, then gave up a two-out walk in the fourth. He plunked a batter–on an 0-2 count–to lead off the fifth, the only Altoona batter to reach scoring position.

Following a 1-2-3 sixth, the skies opened up and the game was called . . . over and hour and a half later.

Carrasco had struggled this month, and had allowed 11 runs on 13 hits over his last eight innings of work prior to Tuesday. Perhaps having a big leaguer on rehab assignment helped things click.

“I saw a guy who commanded three pitches and got a lot of poor swings in the process,” Reading pitching coach Tom Filer said in a release from the club. “I think (Rod) Barajas had a little bit to do with his outing, giving him a lot more confidence, knowing he had a major leaguer behind the plate. It was just an outstanding game tonight, watching him pitch. He looked like a different guy.

“We’ve been hearing so much about his changeup and about how good it was, but we just hadn’t seen it the way it was tonight.”

Barajas had never seen Carrasco before, but came away impressed by the Phillies No. 1 prospect–especially with the changeup.
“The changeup is a real good pitch for him,” Barajas said. “It’s not a straight change; it has a little more downward action, kind of like a split-finger fastball. He throws it in the strike zone and he gets swings on it. As long as he’s able to keep it over the plate he should be fine.

“Overall he was great. I heard he was having trouble with his control and walking a lot of guys. That being the case, I decided I was going to set up on the plate. I wasn’t going to go in the corners and give him a lot of plate to work with. He kept his fastball in the strike zone, and his changeup was outstanding. He even mixed in some pretty good curveballs. From what I saw he was as good as advertised; I was real impressed with his outing.”

Since being promoted from high Class A Clearwater, Carrasco is now 5-3, 4.85 with a 43-38 strikeout-walk ratio in 59 innings.