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Game Information: Indianapolis Indians (1-2) vs. Omaha Storm Chasers (2-1)

April 8, 2022 - International League (IL)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


LOCATION: Victory Field

FIRST PITCH: 7:05 PM ET

GAME #4 / Home #4: Indianapolis Indians (1-2) vs. Omaha Storm Chasers (2-1)

PROBABLES: RHP Chase De Jong (0-0, -.--) vs. RHP Daniel Mengden (0-0, -.--)

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

TV: MiLB TV / MyINDY-TV 23

ABOUT LAST NIGHT, GAME 1: Led by two-hit games by prospects Rodolfo Castro and Cal Mitchell, the Indians offense racked up 10 hits en route to a 5-3 win over Omaha for Indy's first win of the season in the opener of last night's doubleheader. Three extra-base hits in the first two innings, including an RBI triple by Mason Martin and RBI double off the bat of Cal Mitchell, lifted the Indians to an early 2-0 lead. The Storm Chasers came back to take the lead with a three-run home run off the bat of Nick Pratto, his first long ball of the evening. The Indianapolis offense came back in the bottom of the fifth inning with three runs, knocked in by Ji-Hwan Bae, Rodolfo Castro and Brendt Citta, to earn its first win of the early 2022 season. Eight of Indianapolis' nine batters recorded at least one hit in the contest.

ABOUT LAST NIGHT, GAME 2: Omaha bounced back in Game 2 to retake the series lead, 2-1, with a 6-2 win over Indy. The Storm Chasers put up two runs in the first inning and never relinquished the lead. The Indians twice tightened the deficit to one run with RBI by Cal Mitchell and Connor Kaiser, but a two-spot in the top of the sixth inning for Omaha put the game out of reach.

DOUBLEHEADERS: Last night was the Indians' first doubleheader win against Omaha since 1997 after being swept in their lone twinbill vs. the Storm Chasers in 2021. Indianapolis took home a 12-3 win in the seven-inning opening contest on May 4, 1997 in the final year of the American Association behind a two-homer, four-RBI game by Keith Mitchell. Dating back to 1988, the Indians are 10-18 all-time in doubleheaders against Omaha with a 3-7 record at home (Bush Stadium and Victory Field).

MITCHELL MAKES IT: After hitting safely in his first four consecutive Triple-A games at the end of 2021, OF Cal Mitchell has continued his hot start with the Indians with hits in each of his first three games this season. Mitchell, who entered the season rated as Pittsburgh's No. 32 prospect by Baseball America, has now hit safely in six consecutive games against the Storm Chasers after going 3-for-12 with a double and RBI in three games at Omaha to begin his Triple-A career last season. In Tuesday night's season opener, he launched his first Triple-A home run to score the Indians lone run of Opening Night. In last night's doubleheader, he went 3-for-5 with an RBI double and two stolen bases. Mitchell was originally promoted to Indianapolis from Double-A Altoona on Sept. 20, 2021 and went 5-for-20 with a double and RBI in seven games to close out the season. He launched 12 home runs in 108 games with Altoona while batting for average, and ended the season ranked among Double-A Northeast leaders with 107 total hits (4th), .280 batting average (8th) and 61 RBI (9th).

MARTIN MASHING: Mason Martin has also started the 2022 season on a hot streak, hitting safely in each of his first three games with his eighth career triple and a double last night. The first baseman made his Triple-A debut on Sept. 22 and launched three home runs in eight games with the Indians to end last season, including a two-homer game on Sept. 24 at Omaha. Martin spent most of last season with Double-A Altoona and was named a Double-A Northeast All-Star after ranking among league leaders in RBI (2nd, 75), total bases (2nd, 199), extra-base hits (T-2nd, 53), home runs (T-4th, 22), doubles (T-4th, 29), hits (8th, 100) and runs (10th, 62).

TONIGHT: The Indians will look to even the series vs. Omaha tonight at Victory Field after splitting last night's doubleheader. Last season, in their first year facing Omaha since 1997 and the American Association era, the Indians split their lone series at home vs. the Storm Chasers, 3-3. RHP Chase De Jong will take the mound for the Indians in his first outing of the 2022 season after making 13 starts between Pittsburgh and Indy last year. For Omaha, RHP Daniel Mengden will make his first start in affiliated baseball since 2020 after spending last year in the KBO.

DE JONG DEALING: RHP Chase De Jong will take the mound tonight for his fifth Indians start since Opening Day in 2021. In four Triple-A starts last season prior to having his contract selected by Pittsburgh, De Jong went 2-0 with a 3.60 ERA (8er/20.0ip) and 28 strikeouts. He was named Indianapolis' Opening Day starter for the opener on May 4 at Iowa and tossed 6.0 two-hit innings with a career-high 10 strikeouts in a shutout win over the I-Cubs. In nine starts with Pittsburgh, he went 1-4 with a 5.77 ERA (28er/43.2ip) and 39 strikeouts through July 19 prior to being sidelined for the remainder of the season with left knee inflammation.

PROSPECTUS: The Indians roster features nine of Pittsburgh's top 40 prospects (Baseball America). Among those are Oneil Cruz (PIT No. 1) and Roansy Contreras (PIT No. 4), who are rated as the No. 14 and No. 80 prospects in Minor League Baseball, respectively. Other names include OFs Travis Swaggerty (No. 15), Canaan Smith-Njigba (No. 28) and Cal Mitchell (No. 32), INFs Rodolfo Castro (No. 20), Ji-Hwan Bae (No. 25) and Mason Martin (No. 31), and RHP Cody Bolton (No. 30).

CRUZING: Oneil Cruz enters the 2022 campaign rated as Pittsburgh's No. 1 prospect and No. 14 overall by Baseball America. After spending most of the 2021 season with Double-A Altoona, he was promoted to Indianapolis on Sept. 20. He homered in five of his six games in an Indianapolis jersey and compiled a .524 batting average (11-for-21), .665 on-base percentage, 1.286 slugging percentage and 1.941 OPS, all of which led Triple-A East batters from Sept. 22-Oct, 2, before being recalled by Pittsburgh. On Sept. 30, his final game played with Indianapolis prior to being promoted, he became the first Indians batter since Adam Boeve in 2008 to homer in four consecutive games, a stretch that included a two-run, game-tying home run in the bottom of the ninth inning on Sept. 29 vs. Nashville. In two big-league games, he went 3-for-9 with a home run and an 118.2 mph single, which ranks as the 14th highest exit velocity by a rookie in the Statcast era.

THIS DATE IN 1990: In just the third game of the season, Indians third baseman Jerry Goff went 3-for-5 with two home runs and a franchise-record tying eight RBI in a 9-6 win at Iowa. Goff's eight RBI tied Mike Stenhouse's single-game RBI record of eight, which he set on May 10, 1984 vs. Evansville. Goff's historic performance was interrupted in the fifth inning when Indy center fielder James Steels drifted back toward the fence for a catch, but his spikes got stuck in the base of the wall. The game was delayed as Iowa's grounds crew had to help him escape.

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