IL Indianapolis Indians

Game Information: Columbus Clippers (33-21) vs. Indianapolis Indians (26-26)

Published on June 7, 2022 under International League (IL)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


LOCATION: Victory Field

FIRST PITCH: 7:05 PM ET

GAME #53 / Home #24: Columbus Clippers (33-21) vs. Indianapolis Indians (26-26)

PROBABLES: LHP Adam Scott (1-1, 5.62) vs. RHP Jerad Eickhoff (2-2, 4.58)

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

TV: MiLB TV / The Dot

MORE RAIN: The series finale between the Indians and Storm Chasers on Sunday evening was postponed due to inclement weather. The two teams will make up the contest on Wednesday, 9/7 as part of a doubleheader during Indy's next trip to Omaha.

ABOUT SATURDAY NIGHT: Five of the six Indians runs came via the longball, but the Storm Chasers overcame a four-run deficit to emerge victorious in the fifth game of the rain-shortened series on Saturday, 7-6. Oneil Cruz smoked his second leadoff home run of the road trip to begin the scoring for the Indians. After Omaha took the lead on a two-run homer by Freddy Fermin in the second, Bligh Madris levelled the contest with a solo shot in the fourth. With the score knotted at 2-2 entering the sixth inning, Madris then singled home Canaan Smith-Njigba from third base. Two batters later, Hoy Park launched his second home run of the season to straightaway center field to extend the lead to four runs. A two-run homer off the bat of JaCoby Jones cut the Omaha deficit to two runs following a leadoff walk in the bottom half of the sixth. In the Storm Chasers' offensive half of the seventh, another leadoff walk came to score on a Vinnie Pasquantino one-out single en route to a three-run frame. Two batters later, Clay Dungan roped the two-out, go-ahead double off Hunter Stratton.

ONEIL ON IT: Oneil Cruz launched his second leadoff home run of the season on Saturday night for his third homer in his last five games and fifth in his last 10. The 6-foot-7 prospect has reached base safely in each of his last 10 games and his hit safely in nine dating back to 5/22 vs. Toledo. In that time span, Cruz owns a .333 average (14-for-42) with five multi-hit performances, five of eight home runs this season, seven RBI and a 1.094 OPS. Since 5/15, Cruz is hitting .311 (19-for-61) with seven extra-base hits and 13 RBI.

BLIGH GUY: Bligh Madris launched his second home run in the last three game and his fourth of the 12-game road trip on Saturday night to extend his on-base streak to 14 games. Since 5/20 vs. Toledo, the beginning of his on-base streak, he has hit safely in 12 of 13 games with an official at-bat and is hitting .356 (16-for-45) with eight extra-base hits, a .463 on-base percentage and 1.174 OPS. From 8/26-10/3/21, Madris recorded a team and career-high 26-game on-base streak and hit .320 (32-for-100) with 10 doubles and two home runs, a stretch which included a team-high 15-game hitting streak. He also finished the 2021 season tied with teammate Chris Sharpe for the most doubles by an Indians batter (25).

STARTING AHEAD: The Indians scored first in 10 of 12 games of the last road trip and went 5-7. They are no stranger to jumping out to early leads, scoring first in 33 of 52 games this season. In games where they score first, the Indians are 19-14 and overall have surrendered early leads that have led to 16 losses.

SWIPERS NOT SWIPING: After stealing 48 bases in their first 30 games of the season - which ranked second in all of Triple-A behind Tacoma (52), the Indians have stolen just 19 bases in their last 23 games. They stole at least one base - 22 total - in 12 consecutive games from 4/27-5/11, which is tied with Memphis for the longest such streak in the International League this season. Since then, they have stolen at least one base in just 10 of 23 games.

I'M GONNA BE (.500 RECORD): The Indians have spent just five days below the .500 mark in 52 games and have never dropped more than one game below even this season. When they're at risk of dropping below the .500 line, the Indians are 10-5 and are 4-0 since last going below .500 on 5/14 (16-17). Indianapolis has been a season-high four games above .500 twice this season: after a season-high five-game winning streak on 4/13 (6-2) and following Game 1 of a doubleheader at St. Paul on 5/25 (23-19).

TONIGHT: Indianapolis begins a six-game homestand against Columbus today after splitting the first six games between the two teams from 4/19-24. The Indians faced the Clippers 11 times during the 2021 campaign and won the season series, 6-5, thanks to a 4-2 record at Victory Field that included a doubleheader sweep. For the Indians, Jerad Eickhoff will make his fifth career start against Columbus, four of which were quality starts. Countering for the Clippers is Adam Scott, who took a no-decision after allowing two runs (one earned) in 4.0 innings on 4/19 at Victory Field.

INDIANA GROWN: Jerad Eickhoff will make his fifth start in 11 appearances with the Indians today, coming off one of his best outings this season. Last Tuesday at Omaha, Eickhoff surrendered just one hit - a second-inning single to Clay Dungan. Following a leadoff walk to JaCoby Jones in the third, Eickhoff mowed down his next nine batters faced. It was his longest outing with just one hit allowed since 9/12/21 with Triple-A Syracuse at Buffalo when he surrendered one hit and two unearned runs over 6.0 innings. The right-hander also has an impressive walk rate, walking just six percent (nine) of 140 total batters faced with Indianapolis this season.

SWAGS TO THE SHOW: The Pittsburgh Pirates announced on Sunday that they recalled their 2018 first-round draft pick and No. 13 prospect by MLB Pipeline, Travis Swaggerty. The center fielder entered the season listed as the Pirates' "Best Defensive Outfielder" and "Best Outfield Arm" by Baseball America. After a slow April, Swaggerty has been one of the hottest bats in Indy's lineup. In his past 16 games - 10 of which have been multi-hit performances - he owns a .397 batting average (25-for-63) with four doubles, two triples, three home runs, 14 RBI and a 1.132 OPS.

THIS DATE IN 2019: With 13 strikeouts at Toledo, Mitch Keller broke his career record of 11 strikeouts and became just the fourth pitcher in the Victory Field era to strikeout 13 or more in a game. His 13 strikeouts were the most since Ian Snell struck out 17 on June 28, 2009 vs. Toledo. The Indians would go on to lose the game, 3-1, at the hands of the bullpen, giving the Pirates No. 1 prospect the no-decision. Keller was recalled by Pittsburgh and made his second MLB start of the season five days later.

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