Indians right-hander Carlos Carrasco on Monday returned to the mound for the first time since being diagnosed with leukemia earlier this year. Carrasco has begun a minor-league rehab assignment at the Double-A level, and he marked the start of his comeback by working a scoreless inning for Double-A Akron: 

Along the way, he struck out one, walked one, and spotted nine of 16 pitches for strikes. Encouragingly, Carrasco's first pitch of the night, a fastball, registered 97 mph. As MLB.com's Mandy Bell notes, Carrasco also threw three changeups and a slider. 

This is the first game action Carrasco has seen since May 30. In 12 starts this season, Carrasco has pitched to a 4.98 ERA. Those numbers are very understandably out of step with Carrasco's recent history, but he still performed well at the command-and-control level. Prior to this season, Carrasco established himself as one of the best starting pitchers in baseball. From 2014-18, Carrasco averaged 171 innings per season with an ERA+ of 133 and a K/BB ratio of 4.94. In 2017, he finished fourth in the AL Cy Young balloting. 

Now 32, Carrasco's near-term role with the contending Indians could be as a reliever, and he would indeed be a useful bullpen piece (he has 36 career relief appearances) as Cleveland tries to catch the Twins in the AL Central or at least hang onto the top AL wild-card spot. Beyond all the baseball considerations, though, it's uplifting to see Carrasco back on the mound where he belongs.