Carlos Carrasco overcomes 'weird' swarm of midges in 6-5 Indians win

CLEVELAND -- The infamous midges have returned to Progressive Field.

Players from theHouston Astros and Cleveland Indiansbrushed away the bugs during a game Wednesday night, with Cleveland pitcherCarlos Carrasco becoming the primary victim, before he allowed Colby Rasmus' two-run homer in the fourth.

Carrasco appeared to get one of the pesky bugs in his eye on his first pitch to Yulieski Gurriel. A trainer made a brief visit to the mound to assist Carrasco, who gave up a single on the next pitch.

"That was weird,'' he said. "I tried to throw a curveball and maybe threw it 20 feet.''

Rasmus, the following batter, hit the first pitch into the right-field seats, giving Houston a 3-2 lead.

Carrasco, however, didn't let the bugs get in the way of winning the game, as the Indians defeated the Astros 6-5.

"It doesn't feel good,'' Carrasco (11-7) said of the bug attack. "That's the first time this has happened to me, but I had to come back and get people out.''

The game-time temperature was 87 degrees, causing swarms of midges to journey from Lake Erie to the muggy ballpark.

Players in the field and batter's box spent the night slapping away the bugs.

"They were everywhere,'' Indians manager Terry Francona said. "In the dugout, it's hard to sense it, but when you get on the field, man, they were all over the place.''

The scene brought back memories of the 2007 playoff games between the Indians and New York Yankees. The bugs distracted Yankees pitcher Joba Chamberlain, who stepped off the mound several times and caused numerous delays.

Chamberlain, who pitched for Cleveland earlier this season, took to Twitter during Wednesday's game to share some hard-earned words of wisdom:

Carrasco, in turn, tweeted at the former Yankees reliever after the game in solidarity over their shared run-in with the midges:

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.