IL Indianapolis Indians

Game Information: Indianapolis Indians (16-16) at Charlotte Knights (14-20)

May 14, 2022 - International League (IL)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


LOCATION: Truist Field

FIRST PITCH: 7:04 PM ET

GAME #33 / Road #16: Indianapolis Indians (16-16) at Charlotte Knights (14-20)

PROBABLES: RHP Miguel Yajure (0-0, 0.00) vs. RHP Will Carter (1-1, 3.09)

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

TV: MiLB TV

ABOUT LAST NIGHT: The Indians built a 5-0 lead through the first three innings before defeating the Knights in 10 innings last night, 7-5, thanks to a pair of two-run home runs by Cal Mitchell. Indy's offense got going early, with Ji-Hwan Bae scoring on a misplayed ground ball off the bat of Mitchell in the first. In the next frame, a two-out double off the bat of Jason Delay following a leadoff walk by Bligh Madris plated another. The Indians then went up 5-0 in the third, a three-run burst that was ignited by another fielding error. Following the miscue, Mitchell launched his fourth home run of the year, and Mason Martin scored on a wild pitch. Charlotte countered with two runs in the third and solo runs in the fifth and seventh to cut Indy's lead to one run. With one out in the bottom of the ninth inning, Seby Zavala hit a solo home run out to left field to send the game to extras. Mitchell then rocketed the first pitch of the 10th inning to deep right field for his second two-run shot of the night.

MITCHELL MASHING: Cal Mitchell launched a pair of two-run home runs last night for his third consecutive two-hit game and just his second career multi-home run game (also: 6/30/21 vs. Double-A Hartford). With the game tied 5-5 in the top of the 10th inning after Charlotte mounted a five-run comeback, Mitchell rocketed the first pitch of his at-bat 429 feet out to right field to put the Indians on top for the win, 7-5. The four-RBI performance tied his season high (also: 4/16 at St. Paul) and extended his RBI streak to four games, his longest since beginning the 2022 season on a seven-game RBI streak. He has hit safely in seven of eight games played in May - four of which were two-hit performances - good for a .324 average (11-for-34) in the month. Overall this season, he leads the team with a .312 batting average, 29 total hits, five home runs, a .548 slugging percentage and .935 OPS.

CANAAN CONTINUES: Canaan Smith-Njigba extended his on-base streak to 17 consecutive games dating back to 4/22 vs. Columbus with three walks last night, matching a single-game high among Indians batters for the season (also: Rodolfo Castro (2x), Oneil Cruz (2x), Cal Mitchell and Michael Perez). Since the beginning of his on-base streak, he has almost taken as many walks (15) as strikeouts (16) with a .427 on-base percentage. During that time, he is hitting .283 (17-for-60) with five extra-base hits. 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 in his first 14 games.

A GREAT VIEAUX: Cam Vieaux was charged with one unearned run last night after Blake Rutherford reached base safely on a fielding error to lead off the seventh inning but extended his streak without an earned run to 11.0-innings since 4/26 at Iowa. Rutherford was the only batter that reached base safely against Vieaux last night, as he set down the first five batters on 19 pitches. In his last five appearances, Vieaux is 3-0 with a 0.36 WHIP and .059 average against (2-for-34) with two walks and seven strikeouts. He has surrendered just three earned runs this season across two of his seven appearances and owns a 1.62 ERA (16.2ip), 0.78 WHIP and .125 average against (7-for-56). He has not allowed a hit in his last two appearances (3.2ip).

STRATTON'S STRIKEOUTS: With two strikeouts last night at Charlotte, Hunter Stratton now leads all Indians hurlers and ranks third among International League relievers with 24 strikeouts this season. He began the season with a season-high four strikeouts on 4/7 (1) vs. Omaha and has stuck out multiple batters in nine of his 11 appearances. The right-hander has yet to give up an earned run in five May appearances (6.0ip), registering a 1.00 WHIP and .136 average against (3-for-22).

WALK IT OUT: In 10 May games, Indians batters rank first in the International League with 63 walks and third with the least strikeouts (84). They lead all 30 Triple-A teams with 60 walks since 5/3 and trail only Oklahoma City (64) since 5/1. In April, Indians batters walked just 96 times compared to 210 strikeouts.

TODAY: The Indians will look to retake the series lead against the Charlotte Knights tonight at 7:04 PM ET at Truist Field. This series 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 Louisville while Charlotte has yet to win a series. Miguel Yajure will take the mound in his second start for the Indians this season. For the Knights, Will Carter will take the mound first in an opening role for southpaw John Parke.

STRIKING 'EM OUT: Miguel Yajure will take the mound today for his second Triple-A start this season. On 5/8 vs. Louisville, Yajure recorded five strikeouts of seven total batters faced in his scoreless 2.0 innings. His performance led the Indians to a season-high tying 14 strikeouts for the first time since Opening Night vs. Omaha. In nine starts with the Indians last season, he went 2-3 with a 3.09 ERA (15er/43.2ip) and 40 strikeouts. Yajure, who entered the season rated by MLB Pipeline as Pittsburgh's No. 16 prospect, began 2022 with Pittsburgh and went 1-0 with an 11.32 ERA (13er/10.1ip).

WELCOME TO TRIPLE-A: After being promoted from Double-A Altoona on Tuesday, Carter Bins made his Triple-A debut on Wednesday at Charlotte and went yard against two-time All-Star and 2015 World Series Champion Johnny Cueto to plate the first Indians run in the top of the sixth inning. Bins, who was acquired by Pittsburgh with right-hander Joaquin Tejada in the deal that sent LHP Tyler Anderson to Seattle at the 2021 trade deadline, entered the season rated as the Pirates' No. 35 prospect and Best Defensive Catcher according to Baseball America. He began this season with Double-A Altoona and hit .130 (6-for-46) with four doubles and one home run in 14 games. Defensively, he committed just one error in 105.0 total innings (110 total chances) in 13 games behind the dish for the Curve.

THIS DATE IN 2006: Brandon Duckworth improved to 5-2 on the season with 7.0 innings of one-run ball in a 8-1 win over Durham. Duckworth fanned eight hitters in the outing and surrendered six hits and two walks. The then-30-year-old right-hander would go on to tie Sean Burnett for a team-best eight wins on the season despite being purchased by Kansas City from Pittsburgh on June 11, effectively ending his season with the Indians.

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