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Indianapolis Indians

Indians Blast Buffalo 10-4

May 14, 2013 - International League (IL1)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


INDIANAPOLIS -- The Indianapolis Indians (28-12) outslugged the Buffalo Bisons (23-14) 10-4 on Tuesday night at Victory Field as the Tribe collected a season-high 15 hits, including catcher Tony Sanchez falling just at triple short of the cycle, shortstop Josh Harrison going 3-for-4 with two doubles and center fielder Felix Pie scoring twice and driving in two.

The Indianapolis offense reached base in every single inning of Tuesday night's contest, while collecting a season-high 15 hits. Thanks to their season-best offensive showing, the Tribe finished with exactly 10 runs, which one lucky fan hopes will happen again in Friday's series finale at 7:15 p.m.

If this 10-run outburst were to occur again in Friday's series finale, one lucky Tribe fan could walk away with $10,000 as part of the Tribe's "10 Millionth Fan" contest. To enter the upcoming "10 Millionth Fan" contest, all ticketed fans (18 and older ) in attendance on Friday, May 17 can sign up at the Register to Win Gazebo in the PNC Plaza located in center field. Fans must show their May 17, 2013 ticket to be eligible to enter. Entries will be accepted until the end of the fourth inning.

One person will then be chosen as the honorary 10 millionth fan and will receive a special package full of exciting items in numerals of 10 as well the opportunity to leave Victory Field with $10,000. The 10 millionth fan will take home $10,000 if the Indians win the contest against Buffalo by scoring exactly 10 runs. Including tonight, the Indians have scored exactly 10 runs in a win 26 times since Victory Field opened on July 11, 1996

After falling behind 1-0 on a solo home run from RF Moises Sierra in the top of the first, the Indians jumped all over Buffalo starter Miguel Batista in the bottom half of the frame, plating five runs on five hits. Harrison began the first-frame outburst with a one out double, before Pie followed with a walk and 1B Matt Hague drew a walk to load the bases.

3B Jared Goedert then stepped to the plate and gave the Indians a lead they would not relinquish as he roped a two-run single to center to push the Tribe ahead 2-1. LF Brett Carroll continued the rally with a run-scoring double, before Sanchez capped the outburst with a mammoth two-run longball to widen the Indians edge to 5-1.

Sanchez's big night at the plate continued with a run-scoring base knock in the third inning, which plated Hague, who led off the frame with a line drive double to right. The Tribe backstop also added a fifth-frame two-bagger as he finished the night just a triple short of the cycle. Sanchez has now smashed a double in five straight games.

Indianapolis continued to tack on tallies as they brought home four more scores in the bottom of the fourth, beginning with back-to-back base hits from 2B Ivan De Jesus and DH Alex Presley. Harrison then knocked home DeJesus with his second double of the night before Pie scored two runners with a line drive single to center. Hague capped the run-scoring explosion with an RBI groundout that plated Pie to give the Indians 10 runs on the evening.

The Tribe's offensive outbreak was in support of starter Gerrit Cole (6.0 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 SO), who despite allowing solo home runs to Sierra, C Josh Thole and 3B Andy LaRoche, turned in his fourth straight quality start on the way to earning his third victory of the season. Over those four quality starts, Cole has gone 2-0 with a 2.42 ERA (7 ER in 26.0 IP) and 17 strikeouts over 26.0 innings of work.

Following Cole, relievers Erik Cordier (2.0 IP, 1 H, 2 SO) and Jared Hughes (1.0 IP, 3 H) combined to finish out the victory with 3.0 scoreless frames of relief. Helping out Hughes in the ninth was a brilliant play from LF Brett Carroll, who made an amazing running catch into the Indians' bullpen and then gunned down Buffalo's Luis Jimenez at the plate.

Buffalo starter Miguel Batista (3.0 IP, 10 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 2 BB, 1 SO) suffered the loss to fall to 1-2 after allowing eight runs on 10 hits over just 3.0 innings pitched.

The Indians and Bisons will now continue their series on Wednesday at 1:35 p.m. with RHP Brooks Brown (1-0, 2.33) expected to take the mound for Indianapolis and RHP Dave Bush (4-2, 3.38) scheduled to throw for Buffalo.

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, 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 1:15 p.m.

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Post-game quotes -- C Tony Sanchez

(on his first inning two-run homer)

"Yeah, you know it was a three (balls) one (strike) count, you're looking for something you can drive with two outs. I happened to get into one and back-spin it and the wind was blowing out so I think I got a little help."

(on being called up to the "Taxi Squad" and meeting the Pirates on their road trip in New York)

"It's good to get acclimated with the way they go about their day. You go up there and you see how they conduct themselves. And you learn about their routines and how they go about their hitting and their defense before games. There are a lot of things that go on during a game that you don't see and I learned that while I was up there. It was good for me; even little things like what to wear to the field and what to wear on the plane. Those are all things you need to know and it was huge for me."

(on Gerrit Cole's performance)

"Two out of the three home runs that were hit were on off-speed pitches. In his last start we were trying to mix in his off-speed stuff and not get into patterns, and those two pitches happened to be up in the zone and they happened to take advantage of it. The rest of his pitches were great. That's a tough lineup over there, that's a big-league lineup I would think. They have a lot of good hitters and for Gerrit to get through six innings with three runs, that's a quality start for us. Gerrit's come a long way as far as his mentality on the mound and what he's trying to do, and he's still learning a lot of things. I think that was a very quality start today."

(on how Gerrit looked improved in the fifth and sixth innings)

"He just bears down when it gets down to it. He's got that mentality that 'I'm gonna give you my best stuff, here it is.' He literally gets stronger as the game goes on, he gets more locked in. That's something we're trying to teach him is that the first three innings are just as important as the next three. He knew he was facing a lineup with a lot of power and a lot of ability to hit the ball, and he got the job done for us."

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