Carrasco not a fan of the squeeze

Hector Carrasco threw a first-inning fastball to David Ortiz that the Angels’ right-hander thought was “right over the plate,” and umpire Tim Timmons called it a ball. Carrasco threw a handful of other pitches Saturday that he thought were strikes but were called balls.

“It’s hard in the cold weather when the umpire is squeezing you,” said Carrasco, who gave up three runs -- one earned -- and two hits and walked six in 3 1/3 innings of the Angels’ 8-0 loss. “I couldn’t use the corners because I couldn’t get any calls, so I had to throw my other pitches down the middle.”

Even Manager Mike Scioscia, who rarely criticizes umpires publicly, said, “That’s as tight of a strike zone as we’ve ever seen.”

Carrasco, who threw 79 pitches, grew even more frustrated while watching Red Sox right-hander Curt Schilling, who threw 103 pitches over eight shutout innings, on the clubhouse television.

Was Schilling, a veteran who has been one of the game’s top pitchers over the past decade, getting the calls Carrasco wasn’t?

“Yeah,” Carrasco said, “but he pitched a good game too. My control was good, but when he started squeezing me, I started getting mad.... No one is perfect, though. It’s over.”

*

The Red Sox went four-up, four-down in the first inning Saturday. OK, that’s an exaggeration, but it looked that way when Angels second baseman Howie Kendrick turned what appeared to be a double play on Manny Ramirez’s grounder to third.

Causing confusion on the play, at least for Kendrick, was the fact there were two outs when Ramirez hit his grounder. The force at second was the third out, making Kendrick’s relay to first moot.

Maybe that will make up for first baseman Casey Kotchman’s blunder in Milwaukee on Wednesday, when he trotted into the dugout thinking Andy Marte’s groundout was the third out of the inning. It was the second.

*

The weather in Boston has been relatively comfortable, with game-time temperatures of 47 degrees Friday and 52 degrees Saturday, but was expected to take a turn for the worse. The forecast calls for a high of 41 degrees and a 90% chance of rain today and a high of 45 degrees with a 100% chance of rain Monday.

“I’m from the Caribbean, where it’s always hot,” said Ervin Santana, who is scheduled to start today. “There are two competitions, one with the weather, one with the hitters, and you have to try to beat both.”

*

Shortstop Orlando Cabrera’s left elbow “swelled up really bad” after he was hit by a Brendan Donnelly fastball in the eighth inning Friday, but after testing the arm in batting practice Saturday, Cabrera played and had two of the team’s five hits.... Chone Figgins, on the disabled list because of fractures in the index and middle fingers of his right hand, took batting practice Saturday and is scheduled to begin throwing Monday. He could begin a minor league rehabilitation assignment later this week and return in late April.

mike.digiovanna@latimes.com