IL Indianapolis Indians

Game Information: Indianapolis Indians (14-14) at Charlotte Knights (12-18)

May 10, 2022 - International League (IL)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


LOCATION: Victory Field

FIRST PITCH: 6:35 PM ET

GAME #29 / HOME #12: Indianapolis Indians (14-14) at Charlotte Knights (12-18)

PROBABLES: LHP Trey McGough (1-0, 1.13) vs. LHP Kyle Kubat (2-0, 5.50)

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

TV: MiLB TV

ABOUT SUNDAY: Three home runs plated all five Louisville runs to give the Indians their fourth loss of the five-game series on Sunday, 5-1. After Indy plated one run in the bottom of the first inning on a fielding error by first baseman Jake Bauers, Taylor Motter tied the game with a solo homer in the third. Aristides Aquino followed with a 450-foot, two-run bomb in the next frame to give Louisville the lead, and Cristian Santana then tacked on insurance runs with a two-run long ball of his own in the eighth inning. The Indians were handed eight walks by the Louisville pitching staff but went 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position.

STRIKE 'EM OUT: The Indians tied their team-high for the season with 14 strikeouts on Sunday vs. Louisville (also: 4/5 vs. Omaha). Miguel Yajure, in his first start with the Indians this season, recorded five strikeouts in seven total batters faced in his scoreless 2.0 innings. The Indians sent eight total pitchers to the mound and had recorded 10 strikeouts through just five innings. It was the Indians' 11th game with double-digit strikeouts this season and their second in as many days vs. Louisville (10 on Saturday night). They have a losing record in those games (5-6), seven of which have come at Victory Field.

(DON'T) THROW 'EM OUT: The Indians currently rank second in the International League and third in all of Triple-A with 44 stolen bases this season, which puts them over halfway to their season total of 71 in 2021. They are currently on a streak of 10 straight games with a stolen base, their highest since 4/22-5/2/13. With stolen bases by Rodolfo Castro (2), Ji-Hwan Bae, Cal Mitchell and Jason Delay last Wednesday, the Indians recorded their first five-steal game since 4/20/18 at Victory Field vs. Charlotte. The Indians single-season high in stolen bases dating back to 1941 came with an International-League leading 198 stolen bases in 2008. The Indians have led the league in stolen bases seven times since becoming an affiliate of the Pirates in 2005, the last league-leading season coming with 110 stolen bases in 2016. In 2019, the Indians stole a franchise-low 69 bases.

WHO WANTS TO SPIN: Indy's starting pitching corps owns a minor-league leading 2.08 ERA (20er/86.1ip) in 28 games this season, which ranks second to only the Los Angeles Dodgers (1.88) as the lowest in all of professional baseball. Overall, Indy's pitching staff has been firing on all cylinders, ranking second in Triple-A with a 3.61 ERA (97er/242.0ip), 1.23 WHIP and .215 average against (193-for-896), all of which trail only Nashville (2.68 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, .208 AVG). Last season, Indians starting pitchers collected a 5.19 ERA (326-for-565.0ip) in 128 games.

CRUZING: Oneil Cruz recorded a pair of singles on Sunday afternoon to notch his second consecutive two-hit game this season. In his past three games, he has gone 5-for-13 with a double, triple, home run and six RBI. On Saturday night, Cruz smoked a two-run double and solo home run - both tracking at 113-mph exit velocities - to record his third career four-RBI game. It was his first since 6/2/21 with Double-A Altoona at Richmond. It was also his fourth multi-RBI game this season, following Thursday's suspended game (finished on Saturday as the opener) in which he roped a two-run triple. As for his scorched hits yesterday, Cruz is known for hitting the ball hard. In two big-league games to end his 2021 campaign, 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.

SMITH-NJIGBA SPLITS: Despite having his seven-game hitting streak snapped with an 0-for-4 showing in Thursday's suspended game, Canaan Smith-Njigba is currently working a 13-game on-base streak with two walks on Sunday. He has walked at least once in eight consecutive games, becoming the first Indians batter to do so since Cole Tucker in 2019 (7/31-8/8). Since 4/27, which was the beginning of his hitting streak, the corner outfielder is hitting .281 (9-for-32) with more walks (11) than strikeouts (10), good for a .465 on-base percentage and .934 OPS. That comes in stark contrast to the beginning of his season, when he hit .196 (10-for-51) with just four walks to 17 strikeouts.

STRATTON'S STRIKEOUTS: With two strikeouts in the ninth inning on Sunday afternoon vs. Louisville, Hunter Stratton is now tied for the second-most strikeouts among all International League relievers with 21. He began the season with a season-high four strikeouts on 4/7 (1) vs. Omaha and has stuck out multiple batters in eight of his nine appearances. Since May 1, he has surrendered just one hit with seven strikeouts in 3.1 innings.

TODAY: The Indians begin a six-game series with the Charlotte Knights today at 6:35 PM ET at Truist Field. It is the first meeting between the two teams since they faced off 10 times in 2019 with Indianapolis winning that season series, 7-3. The Indians were last in Charlotte from 4/26-28/19 and went 2-1 with their lone loss coming in a one-run game (10-9, 4/26). They will look to bounce back from a series loss to the Louisville, which moved their record against teams below .500 to 2-4 this season. Charlotte, on the other hand, went 2-4 at Gwinnett last week and has yet to win a series. In a battle of southpaws today, Trey McGough will take the mound against Kyle Kubat.

TREY'S TURN: Trey McGough will make his third start in six appearances tonight at Charlotte after surrendering his first run of the season on 5/5 vs. Louisville. The left-hander is currently 1-0 with a 1.13 ERA (1er/8.0ip) with eight strikeouts since making his season debut on 4/20. McGough did not allow a hit in his first three appearances (3.0ip). Last season, McGough led all Pirates farmhands with a 1.12 WHIP and also ranked in ERA (2nd, 3.19), winning percentage (2nd, .545), innings pitched (3rd, 113.0), average against (3rd, .240) and games started (T-7th, 19).

THIS DATE IN 1984: Mike Stenhouse recorded the fourth three-homer game in franchise history vs. Evansville at Bush Stadium. In a 17-4 victory for the Indians, Stenhouse went 3-for-5 with a team-leading eight RBI. Ron Johnson hit a home run of his own, going 4-for-4 with two RBI and five runs scored. Right-hander Greg Bargar went the distance and struck out 11 batters to earn the win. Stenhouse spent 27 games with Indianapolis in 1984, hitting .333 (31-for-93) with eight home runs and 27 RBI.

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