IL1 Indianapolis Indians

Clippers Sweep Doubleheader Over Indians

Published on April 25, 2011 under International League (IL1)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Starter Alex White allowed just one run and struck out eight over 5.2 innings to earn his first career Triple-A victory and lead Columbus to a 6-1 win in game one, before the Clippers came back from a 5-0 deficit to defeat the Tribe 6-5 with six runs over the fifth and sixth innings on their way to the doubleheader sweep of the Indians on Monday night at Huntington Park.

The doubleheader defeat drops the Indians to 5-14 on the season, while the Clippers improve to 13-5 with the two victories. The wins for Columbus gives them seven straight over the Indians this season and nine consecutive overall dating back to last season.

After serving up a two-out solo home run to Indians LF Alex Presley in the first inning, White (5.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 SO) went on to toss five scoreless innings, striking out at least one batter in each frame, including multiple punchouts in the third and fifth. Rated by Baseball America as the second best prospect in the Cleveland Indians organization prior to the season, White continues to post excellent numbers in his first season at Triple-A, having now compiled a 1-0 record and 1.90 ERA (5 ER in 23.2 IP) with 28 strikeouts and just five walks over four starts.

While White shut down the Tribe, the Clippers offense gave him an early lead with five runs over the first three innings, including two in the first, two in the second and one more in the third.

DH Cord Phelps and 3B Lonnie Chisenhall began the first inning rally with back-to-back one out walks, before moving to second and third on a single by LF Chad Huffman and coming around to score on a base hit by 1B Travis Buck. With his two-run base knock Buck now has driven in six runs in just three games with the Clippers, while also posting a .545 batting average (6-for-11) and scoring three runs.

Columbus continued to add to their lead in the bottom of the second when RF Jordan Brown led off the frame with a double and C Luke Carlin drew a base on balls to set the stage for SS Luis Valbuena, who brought both runners plateward with a line drive double to left. Overall, four of the six Columbus' runners who came around to score reached base by way of a base on balls, including 2B Jason Kipnis, who drew a two-out walk in the bottom of third, stole second and came around to score on a double by Brown.

Finally, Huffman capped the scoring for the Clippers in the fifth, when he belted his team best fifth home run over the wall in center to give Columbus a 6-1 advantage. Overall, Huffman (2-for-3, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI) and Brown (2-for-3, 1 R, 1 RBI) were the only batters on either side to collect multiple hits in game one.

Indians starter Sean Gallagher (3.2 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 5 BB, 3 SO) suffered the loss in game one to fall to 0-3 on the season after allowing five runs on five hits and five walks in just 3.2 innings.

In game two it was the Clippers offense that led the way to victory, as Columbus plated six runs over the fifth and sixth frames to come all the way back from a 5-0 hole and defeat the Tribe 6-5.

Leading the way with the hit of night was Brown, who after Columbus loaded the bases by way of walks to C Paul Phillips and Phelps and a single by Valbuena, launched a grand slam to left field to pull the Clippers to with-in one at 5-4. The slam for Brown was his third home run of the season and just the sixth hit in the International League so far this season.

After Brown drew the Clippers to with-in one in the fifth, an error and hit by pitch to lead off the sixth set the stage for Valbuena and Carrera, who came through with back-to-back run scoring singles to score Kipnis and Hodges and give Columbus their first lead of the game at 6-5. While Brown finished the night with four RBI thanks to his grand slam, Valbuena (2-for-3, 1 R, 1 RBI) was the only Columbus batter to post a multi-hit effort in game two.

Despite not figuring in the final decision, Indians starter Garrett Olson (2.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 SO), who was making just his second appearance with the Indians since being ourighted from Pittsburgh on April 22, was brilliant in his short stint as he struck out five of the eight batters he faced over 2.2 scoreless innings of work. Columbus starter and former Indians hurler Joe Martinez (3.2 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 4 SO) also did not figure in the final decision, despite allowing three runs on four hits over 3.2 frames.

After giving the Tribe the early lead in game one, Presley repeated the feat in game two as he gave the Indians a 1-0 advantage by plating RF Corey Wimberly with a sacrifice fly after Wimberly led off the game with a base hit, moved to second on a balk and advanced to third on a groundout by SS Pedro Ciriaco. Presley then came through with another clutch RBI in the third inning as he plated Ciriaco with a two-out infield single to give the Tribe a 3-0 lead.

Then after driving in two of the Tribe's first three scores, Presley would come around to score a run of his own after he came through with another two-out base knock in the fifth and following a walk to 1B Matt Hague, trotted home on a two-run double by 2B Chase d'Arnaud. The two-run two bagger gave d'Arnaud just his second multi-RBI game of the season and his first since he drove home two against the Clippers on April 9.

Columbus reliever Jensen Lewis (1.0 IP, 1 H) allowed just one hit in an inning of relief to earn the victory and improve to 2-0 on the season, while fellow reliever Josh Judy (1.0 IP, 1 SO) pitched a perfect ninth to notch his second save. Tribe reliever Chris Leroux (0.2 IP, 0 H, 2 R, 1 ER) suffered the loss to fall to 2-1 after allowing two runs (one earned) despite not surrendering a hit.

The Indians now return home for an eight-game road trip beginning on Tuesday, April 26 when they take on the Norfolk Tides at 7:05 p.m. LHP Justin Wilson is expected to get the start for Indianapolis, while RHP Steve Johnson is the probable starter for Norfolk.

The contest will be carried on WNDE 1260 AM, WNDE.com and via iheartradio, a mobile application for iPhone, Blackberry and Android phones, while also being broadcast live on Comcast and Bright House Networks digital channel 81 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 April 25, 2011


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