IL1 Indianapolis Indians

A Perfect 10th: Indians Hang 10 in Extras, Bury 'Pigs 15-6

Published on August 19, 2018 under International League (IL1)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


ALLENTOWN, PA - The Tribe sent 15 batters to the plate during a 10-run 10th inning and the Indians capped their seven-game road trip on a high note with a 15-6 comeback victory over Lehigh Valley on Sunday. Wyatt Mathisen delivered a tiebreaking single which was followed by six more hits, including a three-run blast by Jacob Stallings in the double-digit frame.

Indianapolis' (68-58) 23rd come-from-behind win was a shootout with Lehigh Valley (75-51), owners of the International League's best record. The game lasted 3 hours and 53 minutes, with both teams combining for 25 hits, 12 walks and a whopping 379 total pitches.

Less than 24 hours removed from a four-run eighth inning that led to a 5-1, extra-inning win, the Indians used another extra-inning onslaught to bury their opponent. Mathisen's go-ahead single made it 6-5 and two batters later, Jerrick Suiter collected two RBI, plating Kevin Kramer and Mathisen to extend Indy's lead to three. The inning continued with an Erich Weiss two-run double, Jose Osuna sacrifice fly and Stallings' towering drive to left that knocked Will Hibbs (L, 0-1) out of the ballgame. Suiter later worked a bases-loaded walk to give the Tribe their second 10-run inning of the season, the other coming in the second inning of a 10-8 win on May 15 at Norfolk.

The 10-run burst was the eighth double-digit frame for Indy in the Victory Field era (since 1996), with six of those occurring on the road. It was the largest extra-inning output for the Indians in that time frame.

The series finale reached extra innings due to a Lehigh Valley ninth-inning rally. The IronPigs tied the game at 5-5 on a Matt McBride triple, but Dovydas Neverauskas (W, 2-3) was able to wriggle out of the jam. The 'Pigs eventually loaded the bases, but the Tribe righty struck out Mitch Walding and induced a groundout off the bat of Joey Meneses to escape further damage.

The Indians scored the game's first run for the fourth time in the series on a Max Moroff homer in the first inning, his second in three days and eighth with Indy.

Lehigh Valley answered with three runs in the home half off Nick Kingham. Walding evened the scored with an RBI single, Meneses made it 2-1 on a double play and Aaron Altherr cleared the left-field wall for his second home run.

Zach Green pushed the IronPigs' lead to 4-1 with a run-scoring double in the fourth, but the Tribe tallied three in the sixth off Tom Eshelman, who walked a career-high six batters in 1.2 innings of work.

Indy took its second lead of the game with a two-out rally against Mark Leiter Jr. in the eighth. Suiter scorched a single to right field and Ryan Lavarnway then smashed a liner inside third into the left-field corner for an RBI double.

The last at-bat victory was the Tribe's 13th of 2018; they had seven last year.

The win was Indy's fifth in seven head-to-head meetings with Lehigh Valley this season and guaranteed the Tribe at least a share of first place in the IL West before opening a crucial three-game set with Columbus on Tuesday night at Victory Field.

First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m. EDT. Right-hander Mitch Keller (2-2, 6.06) will face Clippers righty Mitch Talbot (4-5, 2.94).

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International League Stories from August 19, 2018


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