Johnson's Gem Dulled by 2-1 Loss
August 2, 2013 - International League (IL1)
Indianapolis Indians News Release
INDIANAPOLIS -- Staff ace Kris Johnson delivered a gem with 7.0 scoreless innings, but the southpaw saw his ever-elusive 10th win slip through his fingers as the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders tied the score in the ninth and took the lead in the 12th to claim a 2-1 come-from-behind victory over the Indianapolis Indians on Thursday night at Victory Field. Despite the defeat, the Tribe's magic number to clinch the International League West Division dropped to 21 as the Louisville Bats also lost their game tonight.
Just three outs away from victory, things took a turn for the worst for Indianapolis beginning with a leadoff double from C J.R. Murphy, who advanced to third just one batter later on a bunted single from RF Thomas Murphy. After Brendan Harris saw the count go to 2-1, Tribe reliever RHP Duke Welker (1.0 IP, 2 H, ER, SO) uncorked a wild pitch that scooted between the pipes of C Lucas May and brought Murphy sprinting home to narrowly beat out the tag and send the game to extras tied at 1-1.
Both teams then posted zeroes on the scoreboard through the 10th and 11th thanks to shutdown performances from former Indians southpaw Mike Zagurski (1.2 IP, BB, SO) and RHP Jim Miller (1.2 IP, H, SO) for the visiting team, and 3.0 solid frames from LHP Atahualpa Severino (L, 3.0 IP, 3 H, ER, 3 SO) for the Tribe. Although Severino allowed only three knocks in his outing, he was tagged for two hits in his final inning to set the stage for his defeat.
In the third extra frame of the contest, Scranton's 3B Alberto Gonzalez began the game-winning rally by legging out an infield single and moving to second on a bunt from CF Adonis Garcia. With the go-ahead run in scoring position, 2B David Adams emerged as the hero of the game for the RailRiders by driving an RBI single to right that plated Gonzalez and sent Scranton to a 2-1 extra-innings win.
No Tribe player felt the loss perhaps more than All-Star LHP Kris Johnson (7.0 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 SO), who, for the sixth time in his last seven starts, piloted the Indians through 7.0 frames while limiting damage from the opposition. The left-hander authored his 10th straight quality start by working 7.0 scoreless frames in which he allowed just five hits and two walks while fanning three. Johnson faced the minimum through the first 10 outs of the contest to lay the foundation for his lockdown effort.
With the fantastic effort tonight, the Tribe's ace lowered his already IL-best ERA to 2.30, and over his last 13 games has now allowed just 11 earned runs to post the best mark on the mound in all of Triple-A (1.35) during that span. Johnson also ranks among league leaders in average against (2nd, 2.16), WHIP (3rd, 1.09) and innings pitched (121.1) through the entire campaign.
The RailRiders attempted to match Johnson in Thursday's pitching duel as they received a nearly as impressive effort from their starter RHP Caleb Cotham (6.0 IP, 4 H, ER, 0 BB, 3 SO). The right-hander allowed just two hits on only 54 pitches through 6.0 scoreless innings before running into trouble in the bottom of the seventh.
2B Chase d'Arnaud lined a single to center to open the frame, before the hit collector 1B Matt Hague moved the runner to third on a base knock that ultimately chased Cotham from the contest. Hague, who had three hits in the contest, is now tied for the league league with 123 base hits.
Facing runners on the corners and no outs, Scranton reliever Josh Spence (0.1 IP, SO) whiffed RF Andrew Lambo and quickly gave way to the second hurlers in as many at-bats, Dellin Betances (2.1 IP, H, SO). Once the righty worked a full count on his first batter of the game, DH Russ Canzler blooped what, by all means, should have been an easy out to deep second base/shallow right field. However, all bets were off with d'Arnaud standing on third as the speedster raced home and slid safely through the plate to give the Indians the a 1-0 lead.
Holding a slim one-run lead, the Tribe turned to rehabbing right-hander Jared Hughes (1.0 IP, 3 H, SO) who immediately put two runners aboard with back-to-back singles from Garcia and Adams. Two batters later, 1B Dan Johnson laced a one-base hit into left that rolled just far enough for the runner to attempt to test the arm of LF Jerry Sands, but the effort proved ill advised as Sands unloaded a perfect throw to the plate to save a run and preserve the 1-0 lead.
The two teams will wrap up their four-game set on Friday at 7:15 p.m. at Victory Field. The Tribe is scheduled to give the ball to RHP David Bromberg (0-1, 3.60) while the RailRiders are expecting to counter with RHP Michael Pineda (1-1, 4.22).
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 6:55 p.m.
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