Is Fausto Carmona running out of gas? Carmona got knocked around Wednesday night in a 9-7 loss to Kansas City, giving up 7 runs in just 5 innings. This has continued a downward trend for Carmona that has lasted for a month. In his last five starts Carmona is 1-4 with a 7.07 ERA.

Carmona has been the Indians' best pitcher for most of this season, but he has started to fade of late. That may be due to Carmona's workload. He has pitched 156 1/3 innings. That may not sound like a lot of innings, but it's the most Carmona has pitched at the big league level since 2007 season, when he was a 19-game winner and helped lead the Indians to within one game of the World Series.

On July 23 of this year, Carmona's record was 10-7 with a 3.51 ERA. Five starts later he is 11-11, with a 4.15 ERA. It's the first time Carmona's ERA has been over 4.00 since April 30. It could be that the season is catching up to him.