IL Indianapolis Indians

Game Information: Indianapolis Indians (16-17) at Charlotte Knights (15-20)

Published on May 15, 2022 under International League (IL)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


LOCATION: Truist Field

FIRST PITCH: 1:05 PM ET

GAME #34 / Road #17: Indianapolis Indians (16-17) at Charlotte Knights (15-20)

PROBABLES: LHP Trey McGough (1-0, 0.75) vs. LHP Brandon Finnegan (0-1, 11.77)

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

TV: MiLB TV

ABOUT LAST NIGHT: Indianapolis was held to just two hits as Charlotte slugged its way to a victory in the fifth game of the six-game set on Saturday night, 12-2. With the game tied 2-2 after the Indians plated a pair on a bases-loaded walk to Travis Swaggerty and run-scoring double play in the top of the second, Charlotte scored 10 unanswered runs - seven in its next two offensive frames - to put the game out of reach.The Knights launched four home runs in the contest: a solo shot by Blake Rutherford to begin the scoring in the first, a go-ahead homer by Jake Burger in the bottom of the second, and back-to-back home runs by Yermin Mercedes and Adam Haseley to begin a five-run third inning. Five of Charlotte's 12 runs scored via the long ball, and two were driven in on bases-loaded walks.

MITCHELL MASHING: Cal Mitchell recorded one of the two Indians base knocks last night to extend his hot streak in May, but had his four-game RBI streak snapped as the Indians only plated two runs. On Friday, he launched a pair of two-run home runs 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). He has hit safely in eight of nine games played in May - four of which were two-hit performances - good for a .316 average (12-for-38) in the month. Overall this season, he leads the team with a .309 batting average, 30 total hits, five home runs, a .536 slugging percentage and .919 OPS.

CANAAN CONTINUES: Canaan Smith-Njigba extended his on-base streak to 18 consecutive games dating back to 4/22 vs. Columbus with one of the eight walks handed to Indians batters last night. On Friday he walked three times, 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 (16) as strikeouts (19) with a .418 on-base percentage. During that time, he is hitting .270 (17-for-63) 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.

THE HITTING: Since 5/1, Indians batters lead all 30 Triple-A teams and rank third in Minor League Baseball with 71 walks taken in 11 games (behind Double-A San Antonio with 81 and High-A Wisconsin with 73). They have also struck out only 97 times, which also ranks in the top third of Triple-A for the month. In April, Indians batters walked 96 times compared to 210 strikeouts.

THE PITCHING: The Indians surrendered 17 hits to the Knights last night, marking the team's most hits surrendered in a single game since giving up 19 on 7/17/19 at Victory Field vs. Syracuse. The last time Indianapolis gave up 17 hits at Charlotte was on 6/21/15 in a 13-1 loss. Prior to this week, the Indians ranked second in Triple-A with a 3.91 ERA (97er/242.0ip) through their first 28 games. In the past five games, they have a 6.28 ERA (30er/43.0ip), 1.70 WHIP and 29 walks to 35 strikeouts.

FOR THE RECORD: Last night was the Indians' fifth loss in 11 games with a .500 record. After being a season-high four games above .500 on 4/13 (6-2), the Indians lost four consecutive games to drop back to even. With three straight wins at Iowa from 4/29-5/1 they went three games above the .500 mark (13-10), but since are just 3-7.

TODAY: The Indians will look to escape Charlotte with a series split today at 1:05 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). Charlotte has yet to win a series while the Indians are at risk of losing their second consecutive set to sub-.500 teams. Trey McGough will take the mound for the Indians in his second start against the Knights this week. For Charlotte, Brandon Finnegan will get the start after allowing five earned runs on four hits and two walks over 1.0 innings in Tuesday's series opener.

TREY'S TURN: Trey McGough is set to make his fourth start with the Indians today after beginning the season on the 7-day injured list. To open the six-game series at Charlotte on Tuesday, McGough surrendered just two hits in 4.0 shutout innings. The left-hander is currently 1-0 with a 0.75 ERA (1er/12.0ip) and 11 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 2005: In a 4-0 win over Norfolk at Victory Field, right-hander Ian Snell went 9.0 hitless innings for Indy's first no-hitter since 1997 and 12th in franchise history. Snell walked one batter and struck out nine as Indianapolis' offense put up three runs in the second inning and another in the fifth. It was his only shutout of the season and his sixth career complete game. The lone no-hitter of his career earned him his second International League Pitcher of the Week Award. Snell went 4-0 in six May starts that year with a 2.04 ERA (9er/39.2ip).

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International League Stories from May 15, 2022


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