Owens Leads Way as Indians Beat Bulls 3-1
Published on May 29, 2012 under International League (IL1)
Indianapolis Indians News Release
INDIANAPOLIS -- Starting pitcher Rudy Owens worked out of trouble three times over 6.2 innings at Victory Field on Tuesday night while first baseman Jeff Clement hit his third home run in his past two games to lead the Indianapolis Indians to a third-straight victory, 3-1 over the Durham Bulls.
Owens (6.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, 1 HR) was touched for just one blemish -- a one-out solo home run by former Tribe OF Jeff Salazar in the fifth inning -- while pitching into and out of trouble nearly all night. The first Durham threat came in the top of the third inning, when SS Reid Brignac doubled to lead off the inning and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by 3B Cole Figueroa. Brignac was stranded, however, when Owens recorded back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning.
The Bulls threatened again in the top of the fifth. After Salazar's home run cleared the right-center-field fence, Brignac hit his second double of the game. The shortstop was stranded in scoring position again, however, as Owens induced back-to-back groundouts. At the time, Salazar's home run had pulled the Bulls within one run of the Indians at 2-1.
Durham appeared poised to tie the game and likely take the lead in the sixth inning when 2B Shawn O'Malley led off the frame with a stand-up triple to the left-center-field gap, just out of the reach of Tribe LF Alex Presley. Up next, CF Jesus Feliciano drew a walk to put runners on the corners with no outs, but Owens struck out two straight batters before going to a full count against 1B Juan Miranda. Miranda was then hit by a 3-2 breaking ball that spun out of Owens' hand, loading the bases with two outs, but Owens quickly picked up his seventh and final strikeout of the night to end the threat.
Indianapolis had given Owens an early lead, scoring in each of the first two innings. CF Starling Marte led off the bottom of the first with an infield single, advancing to second when the throw got away and bounced off of the screen in front of the visitors dugout. The speedster then scored easily on SS Anderson Hernandez's double down the third base line, giving the Indians a 1-0 lead. The double was Hernandez's third of the season and second in three games.
The Tribe added a run to double their lead in the bottom of the second. With one out, RF Brandon Boggs singled just beyond the dirt portion of the infield in shallow right field and advanced to third on C Eric Fryer's sixth double of the season. With the infield drawn in, 2B Brian Friday smacked a rising line drive toward the shortstop position. Brignac made a fully-extended stab at the ball and managed to get his glove on it, but couldn't hold on and the ball fell the to infield grass, allowing Friday to reach with an RBI single as Boggs crossed the plate to give Indianapolis a 2-0 lead.
After Owens had escaped the bases-loaded jam in the top of the sixth, Clement launched a long home run over the seating berm beyond the right-field fence in the bottom of the frame for an important insurance run, giving the Indians a 3-1 lead. The longball was Clement's third in two days and fourth in the past four days. The slugger now leads the Indians with five homers and is also first on the team with 13 doubles, which at the time put him in a five-way tie for the second-most in the International League.
In support of Owens, who improved to 3-2 on the season, RHP Bryan Morris (2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K) tossed two innings of shutout relief, picking up his fifth hold of the season. With two on and two outs in the top of the ninth inning, RHP Tim Wood (0.1 IP, 1 K) came on and recorded a strikeout for a one-out save. It was Wood's fourth save of the season and second in two days.
Bulls starter Chris Archer (6.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 8 K) took the loss despite recording eight strikeouts, including four straight between the first and second innings. Out of the Durham bullpen, LHP Alex Torres (1.0 IP, 3 BB, 1 K) and RHP Josh Lueke (1.0 IP, 2 K) combined for two innings of hit-less, run-less relief in the losing effort.
The Indians (30-21) and Bulls (22-31) return to action on Wednesday afternoon in game three of their four-game series. Indianapolis will likely send LHP Justin Wilson (4-3, 3.46) to the mound while Durham is expected to counter with RHP Shane Dyer (0-1, 6.30). The last time Wilson faced the Bulls, he tossed the first 7.2 innings of a combined no-hitter in Durham on April 29.
The contest will be televised on HTSN (Hometown Sports and News), available via cable or over-the-air on digital channel 6.2. The game will also be carried on WNDE 1260 AM-WFBQ-HD2, WNDE.com and via iheartradio, a mobile application for iPhone, Blackberry and Android phones with Howard Kellman and Will Flemming on the call. The pre-game show begins at 12:45 p.m.
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Post-game quotes -- RHP Tim Wood
(On his recent string of saves) "It's nice to get back in the role. I struggled early in the year, and got that taken away from me, but I've been pitching well of late and I've been happy to get back in that closer role."
(On earning the save by pitching to just one batter) "Absolutely, (it's fun) coming in and getting one out, especially when I pitched back-to-back days. I'm a little tired. It's a nice win and hopefully we can get two more and capture the series."
(On Owens' sliding play on a bunt in the fourth inning) "Unbelievable. We need to Tweet at SportsCenter tonight. Top Ten right there."
(On infielder Jeff Clement hitting his fourth home run in the past four games Tuesday night) "He is real hot. He's swinging a good bat. We lost a couple big bats that got called up to Pittsburgh, which happens, but we need people to step up and Jeff stepped up huge for us."
(On former Indians' infielder Jordy Mercer getting called up today) "You've got to be proud of those guys. I remember my first day. Got to be happy for all those guys when they get their first call up. It's exciting."
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