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Five-Run Third And Seven Strong From Wilk Propel Toledo To Win

August 5, 2011 - International League (IL) Indianapolis Indians

INDIANAPOLIS -- The Mud Hens offense exploded for five runs on seven hits in the third inning to support a superb outing from starting pitcher Adam Wilk, who allowed just one run on five hits over seven innings as Toledo took down the Indianapolis Indians 8-4 in front of a crowd of 10,788 on Friday night at Victory Field.

With the loss Indianapolis falls to 59-55 on the season, while the win improves Toledo's record to 53-61. The victory for Toledo evens the current series at 1-1 and gives the Mud Hens a 7-6 advantage in the season series. With their crowd of 10,788 on Friday night, the Indians have now averaged 10,032 fans over their last 27 home games.

After serving up a first inning score to the Tribe, Wilk (7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO) settled down to throw six straight scoreless frames to earn the victory and improve to 6-5 on the season. The strong showing from Wilk continued an excellent stretch of starts for the southpaw, who since May 20 has now posted a 4-1 record with a miniscule 2.33 ERA (7 ER in 27.0 IP), while striking out 22 and walking just five in that span.

Wilk got all the support he would need when the Mud Hens mashed in five runs on seven hits in a third inning offensive explosion. The five-run rally began with a bang as 2B Danny Worth led off the frame with a line drive home run over the left field wall.

C Max St. Pierre and DH Will Rhymes followed Worth's blast with back-to-back base hits, and both moved into scoring position when former Indians INF Argenis Diaz followed with a beautiful sacrifice bunt. LF Timo Perez then made the sacrifice stand up as he followed with a line-drive double to right field to plate both St. Pierre and Rhymes and give the Mud Hens their first lead at 3-1.

After Perez pounded home a pair with a double, 1B Ryan Strieby followed with a two-bagger of his own to bring home Perez and extend the Toledo advantage to 4-1. Major League veteran Brandon Inge would then cap the offensive outburst with a base hit to left to bring Strieby plateward, and give the Mud Hens a 5-1 lead they would not relinquish.

After completing the third inning scoring outbreak, Strieby and Inge would again team up to spark the Mud Hens to two insurance tallies in the top of the eighth. Strieby began the rally with a lead-off walk, immediately followed by a base hit by Inge, before the pair eventually both trotted home on a two-out two-run single from St.Pierre.

Strieby then slammed home another score in the top of the ninth when he launched a mammoth solo home run to left field to further extend the Toledo advantage. The longball for Strieby was his team best 18th on the season, while with his two RBI Strieby improves his season total to 69, a mark which continues to rank among the top five in the International League.

The Mud Hens offense as a whole put on quite a show as every batter collected at least one hit, all but three scored at least one run and all but four drove in at least one run. While Strieby (3-for-4, 3 R, 2 RBI) led the way with three hits and three runs scored, Inge (3-for-5, 1 R, 1 RBI) St. Pierre (2-for-4, 1 R, 2 RBI) and RF Ben Guez (2-for-5) also all collected multiple base knocks.

Despite managing just a single score off Wilk, the Indians offense did make things interesting in the later frames as they tacked on two in the bottom of the eighth, and a single score in the bottom of the ninth. After 2B Jordy Mercer led off the bottom of the eighth with a base hit, LF John Bowker blasted a ball over the right field fence for his team leading 14th home run.

Then in the ninth, after RF Miles Durham led off with a double to left, SS Pedro Ciriaco brought him home with an infield single to move the score to 8-4. However, despite the third base knock of the evening for Mercer later in the frame, the Indians would score no more as reliever Brendan Wise (0.1 IP) came on to shut the door and earn his first save of the season.

Despite managing just four runs, the Indians offense pounded out 12 hits led for the second straight night by Mercer (3-for-5, 2 R) and Hague (3-for-5, 1 RBI), who each collected three base knocks. Ciriaco (2-for-5, 1 RBI) and Harrison (2-for-3) also turned in multi-hit efforts for the Tribe, while Bowker (1-for-5, 1 HR, 2 RBI) came through with the Indians' only multi-RBI effort.

Tribe starter Rudy Owens (2.2 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 0 BB ,2 SO) suffered the loss to fall to 9-7 after surrendering five runs on eight hits in just 2.2 innings of work. Indians' reliever Sean Gallagher (3.1 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 4 SO) turned in an excellent performance out of the Indianapolis bullpen, as he allowed just one hit and struck out four over 3.1 scoreless frames of relief.

Indianapolis and Toledo now continue their four-game series at Victory Field on Saturday night at 7:05 p.m. RHP Brad Lincoln is expected to take the mound for the Indians, while RHP Enrique Gonzalez is scheduled to get the start for the Mud Hens.

The contest will be carried on WNDE 1260 AM, WNDE.com and via iheartradio, a mobile application for iPhone, Blackberry and Android phones, while also being broadcast live on Comcast and Bright House Networks digital channel 81 with Howard Kellman and Scott McCauley on the call. The pre-game show begins at 6:45 p.m.

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International League Stories from August 5, 2011


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