IL1 Indianapolis Indians

All I Do Is Win: Reyes Shuts out IronPigs 4-0

May 7, 2012 - International League (IL1)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


INDIANAPOLIS -- Left-handed starter Jo-Jo Reyes racked up a season-high eight strikeouts over a season-high 9.0 innings in the Tribe's first complete game of the season while 3B Matt Hague and LF Jake Fox each tallied three-hit efforts as the Indianapolis Indians beat the Lehigh Valley IronPigs 4-0 on Monday night at Victory Field.

Reyes, who has gone 5-0 in five starts after a one-appearance stint in the Indianapolis bullpen to start the year, allowed only three hits and a lone walk while going the distance. It was the first time Reyes went more than 6.0 innings this season and the southpaw's first complete game since May 30, 2011, when tossed nine innings of one-run baseball against the Cleveland Indians as a member of the Toronto Blue Jays. Reyes also hadn't thrown a shutout since June 14, 2006, when he pitched for Class-A Rome in the Atlanta Braves organization.

Indianapolis gave Reyes (9.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 8 K) all of the run support he would need in the first inning when Hague singled with two outs and scored from second when 1B Jeff Clement's flyball popped out of the glove of sliding Lehigh Valley LF Dominic Brown. The error gave the Indians a 1-0 lead in the first, the third game in a row that the Tribe scored in the opening frame.

The Indians added a run in the bottom of the third when CF Gorkys Hernandez led off the frame with a walk and stole second before leaping over Fox's groundball-single to left en route to scoring from second and giving the Indians a 2-0 advantage. With a light but steady rain falling in the third, IronPigs starter Dave Bush was visibly uncomfortable during the inning and went on to allow a walk to Hague and Fox's single before settling in and retiring three straight Indians.

Indianapolis scored their final runs of the game in the bottom of the fifth inning. After back-to-back one-out singles by Hague and Fox put runners on first and second, a flyout brought up SS Jordy Mercer with two outs.

Mercer came through with a clutch RBI single to bring home Hague and put Fox on third base. The hit was the second of the game for Mercer, who extended his hitting streak to eight games, and gave the Tribe a 3-0 lead.

Fox, who made his first start in left field this season and made an impressive running catch down the line in the fourth inning, scored the Indians final run of the game when a high pitch from Bush popped out of the glove of IronPigs C Tuffy Gosewisch.

Bush (5.0 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 3 K) took the loss, falling to 2-3 on the season. Meanwhile, Lehigh Valley reliever Raul Valdez (3.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K) was impressive in three innings out of the IronPigs bullpen.

Reyes' no-run effort lowered his season ERA to an impressive 2.03 (seven earned runs in 28.0 innings pitched. His gem was the International League's first complete-game shutout of the season and gave the Indians a three-game winning streak in the first three games of their current 10-game homestand.

The Indians will look to improve upon that winning streak on Tuesday when they face Lehigh Valley in game two of their four-game series. Indianapolis is expected to send April Player of the Month LHP Rudy Owens (1-0, 2.12) to the mound while the IronPigs will likely counter with RHP Austin Hyatt (2-2, 3.09). The first pitch is scheduled to 7:05 p.m.

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 6:45 p.m.

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Post-game quotes -- LHP Jo-Jo Reyes

(On his shutout) "It felt good. I'm going to give the credit to my family. They got in last night, I'm a little relaxed that they're here now. I went out there and had some fun."

(On when he knew he was going to pitch well) "I wasn't really worried about how long I went. I just wanted to get first-pitch strikes and concentrate on the next pitch."

(On whether the Indians starters are competing against one another to see who can pitch better) "I don't think there's a competition, but we all want to do well and we all challenge each other."

(On how an early lead can calm a pitcher down) "You can't get too relaxed, but it's always nice to have a couple runs."

(On his concern about his pitch count going into the eighth inning) "I wasn't worried about it at all. If the eighth was going to be my last, it was going to be my last, but I was concentrating pitch by pitch."

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