IL1 Indianapolis Indians

6.30.18 Game Information: Indianapolis Indians (43-35) at Columbus Clippers (40-39)

Published on June 30, 2018 under International League (IL1)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


The Indians and Clippers play game three of their four-game set tonight. Indy has scored first in each of the first two games but dropped both contests.

Location: Huntington Park

First Pitch: 7:15 p.m. ET

Game #79 / Road #40: Indianapolis Indians (43-35) @ Columbus Clippers (40-39)

Probables: RHP Mitch Keller (Triple-A debut) vs. RHP Michael Peoples (0-2, 16.88)

Radio: Fox Sports 97.5 / AM 1260 / iHeart app

TV: MiLB TV

From the Notes

ABOUT LAST NIGHT: The Indians again scored first but saw an early lead slip away to the Clippers, falling 10-6 on Friday night. Columbus hung seven runs in the fourth against Brandon Waddell, four of them earned. Adam Rosales cranked his second grand slam of the season against Indy to highlight the frame. Rosales then homered in the Clippers' next at-bat that made it 8-3 through five. Jordan Luplow hit a two-run homer in the seventh to cap a three-run burst for the Tribe, but they would get no closer in dropping their second straight. The Tribe are now 2-6 in Columbus. Jerrick Suiter homered in the third to give Indy a 1-0 lead, his first in Triple-A.

IT'S KELLER TIME: Mitch Keller takes the mound tonight for his Triple-A debut. He went 9-2 with a 2.72 ERA (26 ER/86.0 IP) in 14 starts for Double-A Altoona. He was 4-0 with a 1.11 ERA (4 ER/32.1 IP) over his last five starts, including an eight-inning, one-hit masterpiece his last time out against Harrisburg on June 25. He allowed just two walks and had six strikeouts to stymy the Senators. Keller is rated as Pittsburgh's No. 1 prospect by both Baseball America and MLB Pipeline. The latter website also lists him as the No. 3 right-handed pitcher in all of Minor League Baseball, trailing only Houston farmhand Forrest Whitley and Charlotte Knights pitcher Michael Kopech.

FIRST IMPRESSION: Jason Martin, who led Altoona in nearly every offensive category, looked good at the plate and in the field in his Triple-A debut last night. He tripled in his first Triple-A at-bat and added an RBI single to the opposite field in the seventh. He finished 2-for-5 with an RBI and run scored, and he also made a sensational diving catch in the first inning on a shallow line drive to save a run.

BUY HIM A SUIT-ER: Jerrick Suiter logged his second multi-hit and multi-RBI performance games of the season in last night's defeat. His last multi-hit game was on April 27, also in Columbus. His first multi-RBI game came on April 24 vs. Syracuse at Victory Field. Last night, he homered to left in the third and followed an Erich Weiss double in the fifth with one of his own to right. Twelve of his 17 hits this season have gone for extra bases (10 doubles, one triple, one home run).

HOT JUNE: Kevin Kramer has an extra-base hit in six of nine, 10 of 16 and 14 of his last 24 games overall. His double in the second inning Wednesday night helped him set a new personal mark; he had never recorded an XBH in four straight games in his career. He has 34 XBH (20 2B, 3 3B, 11 HR) in 72 games this season, second most in the IL. After batting just .238 (25-for-105) with 10 XBH (4 HR, 1 3B, 5 2B) in 28 May games, Kramer has heated up with a .319 average (29-for-91) and 19 XBH (6 HR, 2 3B, 11 2B) in 25 June contests. He has hit safely in 17 games this month, with a team-high 11 multi-hit performances during that span (Jordan Luplow is second with seven multi-hit games in June).

LUPLOW ROLLING: Jordan Luplow has hit safely in 20 of his last 24 overall. He has also driven in at least one run in five straight and six of his last seven, with five of those occurrences featuring two-RBI performances. He is batting .392 (20-for-51) with three homers, five doubles, 12 RBI, nine runs scored and 10 walks against just seven strikeouts over his last 15 games. Since May 1, Luplow has batted .311 (61-for-196) with 31 extra-base hits, 37 RBI and 27 runs scored in 54 games. All eight of his home runs with Indy have come on the road.

FIVE STRAIGHT WITH A RIBBIE: Luplow's streak of five straight games recording at least one RBI ties Christopher Bostick's streak set earlier this season (5/17-21), the longest by a Tribe player in 2018. His longest stretch of games with an RBI is six, set from Aug. 6-11, 2015 with Single-A West Virginia in the South Atlantic League. He totaled nine RBI during that stretch.

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