IL1 Indianapolis Indians

Bats Walk-off with 2-1 Win over Tribe

Published on August 14, 2011 under International League (IL1)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- First baseman Mike Constanzo singled home left fielder Daniel Dorn and pinch runner Jose Castro with one out in the bottom of the ninth as the Louisville Bats battled back to beat the Indianapolis Indians 2-1, despite collecting just three singles on Sunday afternoon at Louisville Slugger Field.

With the loss Indianapolis falls to 65-58 on the season, while the win improves Louisville's record to 62-61. The victory for the Bats also ends the Indians four-game road winning streak and draws the season series between the two clubs to 7-6 in favor of the Tribe.

The Indians' pitching staff dominated Louisville batters for the first eight frames as starter Aaron Thompson along with relievers Steven Jackson, Justin Thomas and Jared Hughes combined to allow just two hits, while striking nine. In his first start with Indianapolis this season Thompson (4.0 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 5 SO) turned in an impressive performance as he struck out five over four scoreless innings.

Jackson (1.1 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 1 SO) then followed Thompson with 1.1 scoreless frames before Thomas (1.1 IP, 1 BB, 3 SO) earned his International League leading 10th hold of the season and Hughes (1.0 IP, 1 BB) tossed a scoreless inning for his sixth hold. However, Louisville was able to get to Tribe closer Justin Wilson (0.2 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO), who gave up both Bats runs in the ninth to suffer his first blown save and take the loss to fall to 9-8 on the season.

Dorn began the ninth inning rally when he drew a one out hit-by-pitch, before moving up to second when All-Star C Devin Mesoraco fouled off several pitches to earn a walk, before he was pinch ran for by Castro. A wild pitch then allowed both Dorn and Castro to move up 90 feet and set the stage for Constanzo, who came through with the game-winning base knock to center.

The two tallies for Louisville in the ninth were the first runs surrendered by the Indianapolis bullpen over their last 21.1 innings. Entering the contest, Tribe relievers were 7-0 with a 3.46 ERA and five saves in the month of August.

Indianapolis plated their lone run of the game in the fourth inning when 3B Chase d'Arnaud led off the frame with a base-on-balls, stole second and came around to score when 1B Matt Hague singled to left. The base knock was one of two on afternoon for Hague (2-for-3, 1 RBI, 1 BB), who posted the games only multi-hit effort, while extending his hitting streak to 11 straight games and his on-base streak to 23 consecutive contests.

The two base hits for Hague give him 148 on the season to move him ahead of Major Leaguer and former Indianapolis Indians INF Marco Scutaro (146) for second place on the Tribe's Victory Field era (1996) single season hit list. Only D. T Cromer has had more hits in a single season since Victory Field opened as he collected 166 base knocks during the 1999 season.

However Hague's RBI single would be all the runs the Tribe could collect as Louisville starter Matt Maloney (7.0 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO) allowed just one run and scattered seven hits over seven innings, before reliever Jared Burton (2.0 IP, 1 BB, 1 SO) tossed two scoreless frames of relief to earn the victory and improve to 2-0 on the season.

Indianapolis and Louisville now continue their eight-game road/home series with final game of the series in Louisville on Monday night at 7:05 p.m. The Bats are scheduled to start LHP Tom Cochran, while the Indians have yet to name a starter.

The contest will be carried on WNDE 1260 AM, WNDE.com and via iheartradio, a mobile application for iPhone, Blackberry and Android phones, with Howard Kellman and Scott McCauley on the call. The pre-game show begins at 6:45 p.m.

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International League Stories from August 14, 2011


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