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IL Indianapolis Indians

Game Information: Indianapolis Indians (13-10) vs. Louisville Bats (8-16)

May 3, 2022 - International League (IL)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


LOCATION: Victory Field

FIRST PITCH: 6:35 PM ET

GAME #24 / Home #13: Indianapolis Indians (13-10) vs. Louisville Bats (8-16)

PROBABLES: LHP Nathan Kirby (0-1, 1.69) vs, RHP Ben Lively (0-1, 5.48)

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

TV: MiLB TV

ABOUT SUNDAY: Ji-Hwan Bae sent a leadoff home run over the right-center wall on the third pitch of the game and Indianapolis never trailed in a series-clinching victory against Iowa on Sunday afternoon, 3-1. The Indians' offense continued to roll in the second inning when a throwing error by shortstop Ildemaro Vargas on a ball put into play by Josh Bissonette allowed Bligh Madris to score from third base. Errors continued to plague the I-Cubs, and with the score 2-1 in the fourth inning, Canaan Smith-Njigba scored from first base on a Madris double and fielding error by left fielder Brennan Davis. The Indians won the final three games in the series to come back from a 2-1 deficit after Thursday night.

LEADING OFF: Ji-Hwan Bae launched his first career leadoff home run on Sunday afternoon to open Indy's 3-1 win over Iowa. The long ball was the Indians' first leadoff home run since Oneil Cruz hit one on 9/26/21 at Omaha. In 2021, the Indians hit six leadoff home runs, which was the team's most in a single season since hitting six in 2009. Bae has spent six games in the leadoff spot of Indy's lineup and owns a .360 batting average (9-for-25) with three doubles and three home runs in those games.

BAE BATTING: Along with hitting the first leadoff home run of his career on Sunday, Bae's long ball was his third in four games at Iowa. Bae hit his first home run of the season on 4/27 and followed with another the next day, marking the second time in his career that he has homered in back-to-back games (also: 7/28-29/21 at Harrisburg). In five games at Iowa, he hit .318 (7-for-22) with two doubles, three homers and five RBI. On Friday, he recorded a career-high five hits with three extra-base knocks, making him one of three players in the International League to notch a five-hit game this season. In 20 games this season, Bae is hitting .254 (18-for-71) with seven extra-base hits.

THE NEW MAYOR OF DES MOINES: Bligh Madris added to his impressive career numbers vs. the I-Cubs on Sunday with a 2-for-2 performance. The outfielder raked against Iowa last season, hitting .423 (22-for-52) with six doubles, three home runs, 17 RBI and seven walks in 18 games. In 21 career games vs. the I-Cubs, he owns a .393 batting average (24-for-61) with seven doubles, and 10 walks, good for a .493 on-base percentage.

SCORELESS STARTERS: Indy's starting pitchers have not surrendered an earned run since 4/24 vs. Columbus, lowering their collective ERA for the season to a minor league-leading 2.27 mark (18er/71.1ip), which ranks second to only the Los Angeles Dodgers (2.01) as the lowest in all of professional baseball. The Indians' .180 average (46-for-255) allowed by starting pitchers also ranks as the third-lowest among all 150 minor and major league clubs. In six games at Iowa, Indians' starters allowed just one unearned run in 17.1 innings pitched with 14 walks and 17 strikeouts.

THE CLOSER: Yerry De Los Santos, one of Indy's quality late-inning relievers, earned his team-leading second save in as many opportunities on Sunday afternoon at Iowa. He struck out the side in a perfect ninth inning. This season, the right-hander leads Indians relievers (6.0-plus innings pitched) with a 1.13 ERA (1er/8.0ip) and has 13 strikeouts. In 11 career Triple-A outings with Indianapolis, De Los Santos is 1-0 with a 0.64 ERA (1er/14.0ip), four hits allowed, two walks and 19 strikeouts.

PITCHING PRODUCES: Overall, the Indians' pitching staff has been firing on all cylinders, ranking third among 20 International League teams and fifth in Triple-A with a 3.67 ERA (80er/196.0ip) in 23 games. Indianapolis' pitchers own a collective 1.24 WHIP and .212 average against (154-for-726), which are both second-lowest in Triple-A to Nashville (1.20 WHIP, .205 AVG). Over the past week, the Indians surrendered three-or-less runs in five of the six games at Iowa and improved to 12-1 when surrendering less than four runs this season.

MARTIN'S MONTH OF MASHING: Mason Martin recorded 16 extra-base hits in the month of April, the third-most in all of professional baseball behind Double-A Springfield's Moises Gomez (17) and Lehigh Valley's Darick Hall (17). He recorded at least one extra-base hit in 12 of his 20 games played last month. Since 2005, Mason Martin's 16 XBH in April are the most ever by an Indians player in the opening month of a season (previous high: 15, Steve Pearce in April 2010) and are tied for seventh among Indians players. He's the first Indy player to collect 16-plus XBH in a single month since Kevin Kramer had 19 in June 2018. Josh Harrison holds the monthly XBH record since 2005 with 20 in June 2013.

TONIGHT: The Indians open a six-game series against the Bats at 6:35 PM ET at Victory Field. This is the first of 18 matchups between the two International League West rivals this season with 12 of those contests played at The Vic (also: 8/2-7). Last year the Indians went 8-10 against the Bats including a 3-3 mark at Victory Field, marking Indy's first season-series loss to Louisville since 2016 (12-14). LHP Nathan Kirby (0-1, 1.69) gets the nod for Indy tonight against RHP Ben Lively (0-1, 5.48).

THIS DATE IN INDIANS HISTORY: In his International League MVP season, shortstop Don Buford was a triple away from the cycle after hitting two singles, a double and home run in an 11-6 win over the Atlanta Crackers at old Victory Field. He went on to hit .336 with 41 doubles, 114 runs and 42 stolen bases that season.

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