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Indianapolis Indians

Columbus Houses 4-0 Shutout

July 9, 2013 - International League (IL1)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


COLUMBUS, OHIO -- Opposing Left-hander T.J. House turned in his best outing of the season with 6.0 shutout innings of one-hit ball before right-handers Matt Langwell and Fernando Nieve combined to limit the Tribe to just one knock and no runs throughout the final three frames as the Columbus Clippers (42-52) coasted to a two-hit shutout of the Indianapolis Indians (59-35) on Tuesday night at Huntington Park. The two-hit effort was the first against the Tribe in almost exactly one year to the date, as Indianapolis was last held to just two knocks on July 13, 2012 vs. the Clippers.

The Indians entered the contest as the hottest hitting team in the International League during July, batting a league-best .296 with an incredible 29 doubles through eight games in the month. However, that all changed when the Tribe's bats ran into an unlikely stopper in left-hander T.J. House (W, 6.0 IP, H, 0 ER, 4 BB, 5 SO), who had lost seven straight starts prior to his gem on Tuesday.

Aside from issuing four walks, House was nearly perfect through his 6.0 innings in which he also fanned five and surrendered just a lone hit to 2B Jared Goedert. The southpaw allowed two of the game's first four batters to reach safely, but recovered to retire 13 of the final 17 batters, including coaxing two double plays, as he closed out his appearance facing just one batter above the minimum from the second inning to the sixth. The lefty's win marked his first victory in nearly two months, with his last triumph on May 13 at Rochester, as well as his first home win in seven starts this season.

House initially found himself in some early trouble when he issued a two-out, first-inning walk to 1B Matt Hague, and saw the runner move all the way to third on Goedert's two-bagger. With the Indians threatening but down to their final out, Columbus' left-hander fell behind IL All-Star slugger DH Tony Sanchez 0-1, before settling down to induce a harmless fly ball to center to escape the frame unscathed.

Following the lefty's departure, RHP Matt Langwell (Hold, 2.0 IP, H, 2 BB, SO) picked up right where the starter left off, coaxing a line-drive double play from DH Tony Sanchez in the seventh, before working around a walk to SS Ivan DeJesus and a two-out single from CF Alex Presley to put his stamp on the combined two-hit shutout.

With the game all but locked up, Fernando Nieve (1.0 IP, BB, SO) retired the first two batters he faced to move within one out of the shutout. However, RF Andrew Lambo kept the visiting team's hope's alive by drawing a free pass and passing the bat along to 1B Jerry Sands, but Nieve punched out the slugger to slam the door and send Columbus to a 4-0, two-hit win.

Base knocks weren't at such a premium for the hometown squad, and although Indianapolis kept Columbus off the scoreboard in the bottom half of the first, the Clippers elected to play small-ball in the second inning to push an early run across the plate.

LF Jeremy Hermida opened the inning with a leadoff single to right, and immediately advanced a bag on a sacrifice bunt down the third-base line from RF Matt Carson. With runners on the corners, SS Juan Diaz rolled a grounder to center that split the middle infielders and brought Hermida plateward to put Columbus up 1-0.

After SS Omir Santos bounced into a force out to move Diaz into scoring position, 3B Ryan Rohlinger roped a line drive into left that had all intentions of landing for an RBI single. Fortunately for the Indians, speedster LF Darren Ford laid out in a full-extension, head-first dive to snag the liner and end the inning.

The Clippers then doubled their advantage to 2-0 in the third inning on a solo shot from 2B Nate Spears, before again tacking on another single score in the fifth, this time courtesy of a lapse in Indianapolis' defense.

Following two quick outs from Spears and CF Ezequiel Carrera, DH Tim Fedroff landed a single in left, and as RHP Graham Godfrey attempted a pickoff throw, the ball went sailing past first base to allow Fedroff to move to second. The two-out error prove costly for the Tribe as 1B Chun-Hsiu Chen then brought the runner scampering home on an RBI base knock that made the score 3-0.

Two frames later, the Indians dug themselves deeper into the hole as they allowed Fedroff to reach on a broken up double play, take second on a single from Chen, move to third on a wild pitch from RHP Erik Cordier and finally score on a wild throw from C Lucas May to cap off the sloppy series of plays and give the home squad a 4-0 lead.

Despite working his second quality start, Godfrey was charged with the loss to fall to 6-5 overall on the season. The Tribe's right-hander allowed eight hits and one walk, but only two of his four total runs were earned through his 6.2 frames of action. With the solid appearance, Godfrey has now allowed just five earned runs over his last three starts, lowering his ERA from 9.45 to 5.52 during that span.

The Tribe and Clippers will conclude their three-game series tomorrow at 12:05 p.m. Indianapolis is expected to give the ball to LHP Andy Oliver (5-2, 3.12) while Columbus will send RHP Joe Martinez (2-6, 6.23) to the mound.

The game will be carried on 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 11:45 p.m.

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