IL Indianapolis Indians

Doubleheader Game Information: Indianapolis Indians (12-13) vs. Columbus Clippers (9-16)

Published on June 4, 2021 under International League (IL)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


LOCATION: Victory Field

FIRST PITCH: 5:05 PM ET / 30 mins after G1

GAME #26-27 / Home #9-10: Indianapolis Indians (12-13) vs. Columbus Clippers (9-16)

G1 PROBABLES: RHP Steven Wright (1-1, 1.84) vs. RHP Matt Koch (1-1, 4.76)

G2 PROBABLES: RHP Beau Sulser (2-2, 5.40) vs. RHP Heath Fillmyer (0-0, 0.00)

RADIO: FoxSportsIndy.com / Fox Sports 1260 / iHeart app

TV: MiLB TV / My-INDYTV 23

LAST NIGHT: Columbus narrowly edged the Indians last night, 3-2, to even the series at 1-1 going into tonight's doubleheader. The Clippers got on the board first when Oscar Mercado was hit by a pitch and advanced to second on a balk before former Indians catcher Ryan Lavarnway singled him home in the third. They scored one more in the fourth with a sacrifice fly off the bat of Nolan Jones. The Indians came back in the bottom of the fourth when Colin Moran launched the first home run of his major league rehab assignment with Indianapolis, a two-run shot, but Columbus came back in the next half-inning with a game-winning home run by Andres Gimenez. James Marvel took the first loss of his Triple-A career after surrendering all three Clippers runs in five innings, while Kirk McCarty improved to 4-0 on the season with seven two-run innings.

MORAN DOES IT ALL: Colin Moran, in the second game of his MLB rehab assignment with the Indians last night, hit a two-run home run to tie the game, 2-2, in the fourth inning. Phillip Evans, also in the second game of a rehab assignment, singled with one out, and Moran followed up to drive them both home on the second pitch of his at-bat. The two Pirates rehabbers went a combined 2-for-6 last night, and Evans now has a hit in each of his appearances with Indy so far this week.

YOUNG HAYES IS BACK: Ke'Bryan Hayes was reinstated from the 60-day injured list yesterday and made his first start at third base with the Pirates exactly two months after suffering a left wrist injury. As the second batter in Pittsburgh's lineup, Hayes picked up right where he left off, going 2-for-4 with a triple and a play ranging to his left to throw a batter out at first base. In seven rehab games with Indianapolis, the No. 1 prospect in Pittsburgh's system hit .250 (6-for-24) with two doubles and two home runs.

BETHANCOURT BATTING: Christian Bethancourt went 2-for-4 last night with a pair of singles to lead the Indians offense. He now leads the Indians offense with seven multi-hit games, despite not joining the team until May 13. In Tuesday's series opening win, Bethancourt singled home the game-tying run in the sixth inning and also scored the eighth-inning insurance run needed to best the Clippers. In 18 games this season, he is hitting .309 (21-for-68) and leads all Indians qualified players in average. On the team multi-hit leaderboard, Bethancourt is followed by Bligh Madris with six multi-hit games. Madris has played in 12 games with the Indians since being promoted from Double-A Altoona and is hitting .350 (14-for-40).

PITCHING PERFORMS: After starter James Marvel exited last night's game after five innings, four Indians relievers combined for four perfect innings to close out the contest. Joe Jacques, Nick Mears, Austin Davis (on an MLB rehab) and Jandel Gustave each tossed one inning and recorded all six Columbus strikeouts. The team's 3.28 bullpen ERA (37er/101.2ip) ranks fourth out of 20 Triple-A East teams, and the pitching staff as a whole ranks third with a 3.68 ERA (89er/217.2ip).

DOUBLEHEADERS: The Indians will play their first doubleheader tonight vs. Columbus, not counting the suspended game and unconventional doubleheader at St. Paul on May 20. In 2019, the Indians went 5-7 in six doubleheaders with a 2-4 record in Game 1 and 3-3 record in Game 2. Three of those 2019 doubleheaders came against the Toledo Mud Hens. The Indians swept their last doubleheader at Columbus on May 16, 2017, 5-1 and 9-0. Columbus swept the last doubleheader at Victory Field between the two teams on July 12, 2014, 4-3 and 2-1.

WRIGHT IN GAME 1: Steven Wright will make his third start in five appearances with the Indians so far this season. His last outing came on May 28 at Omaha, when he tossed a season-high 5.2 innings and allowed two runs on six hits. His 5.2 innings were the most in an outing since he went seven innings on June 16, 2018 at Seattle, and his five strikeouts were the most since he fanned five on June 11, 2018 at Baltimore. The knuckleballer will face off against Matt Koch, who is 1-1 with a 4.76 ERA (6er/11.1.ip) in four games (two starts) with Columbus this season. He is coming off a rough outing vs. Nashville, when he allowed four runs on four hits in 3.0 innings. Koch has not tossed more than 3.2 innings in an outing this season.

SULSER IN GAME 2: Beau Sulser will make his career-high tying sixth start with the Indians tonight in Game 2 vs. Columbus. So far this season, he is 2-2 with a 5.40 ERA (12er/20.0ip) and 21 strikeouts in five starts. He is coming off back-to-back losses after beginning the season 2-0 with a 3.55 ERA (5er/12.2ip). Sulser's last start was on May 29 at Omaha, and he allowed five runs on seven hits in 3.1 innings. In his professional career, he has made exactly six starts in a season twice (2019 with Double-A Altoona, 2017 with Short-Season A West Virginia). He will face off against Heath Fillmyer, who is making his first professional start since Aug. 23, 2019 at Memphis. Fillmyer was signed by Cleveland on May 30, 2021 as a minor league free agent.

ROSTER MOVES: Wil Crowe was optioned to Indianapolis yesterday as the corresponding move to add Hayes back to Pittsburgh's active roster, and will likely proved a boost to the Indians starting pitching staff going forward. The right-hander made eight appearances (seven starts) with Pittsburgh to begin the season and went 0-4 with a 7.26 ERA (25er/31.0ip) and 28 strikeouts.

Check out the Indianapolis Indians Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



International League Stories from June 4, 2021


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central