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Game Information: Indianapolis Indians (2-2) at Iowa Cubs (2-2)

May 9, 2021 - International League (IL)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


LOCATION: Principal Park

FIRST PITCH: 2:08 PM ET

GAME #5 / Road #5: Indianapolis Indians (2-2) at Iowa Cubs (2-2)

PROBABLES: RHP Miguel Yajure (0-0, 0.00) vs. RHP Shelby Miller (MLB Rehab)

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

TV: MiLB TV

LAST NIGHT: The fifth game in the six-game series between Indianapolis and Iowa was postponed last night due to inclement weather. The game is set to be made up as a to be determined doubleheader when Indy travels back to Des Moines from Aug. 3-8. The Indians had five postponements during the 2019 season, most recently on Aug. 20 at Toledo.

FRIDAY NIGHT: The Indians lost in walk-off fashion Friday night following a wild pitch and two-out passed ball by batterymates Tyler Bashlor and Andrew Susac to score the winning run without the Iowa Cubs logging a hit in the bottom of the 10th inning. Cubs starter Kohl Stewart stunned the Indians offense through his five innings, allowing just one run on one hit following a triple off the bat of Kevin Kramer. Facing a 2-0 deficit early, the top of Indy's order came alive and took a 3-2 lead in the sixth inning as Will Craig hit a two-run double for his first hit of the season. A Cameron Maybin home run in the eighth off Shea Spitzbarth tied the game before the extra-inning walk-off win in the 10th.

TUCKER IN THE TWO SPOT: Cole Tucker has logged back-to-back two-hit games after going hitless to begin the series. He has opened the season in the two-spot of the lineup each of the first four games after starting 76 games in the leadoff position of Indy's lineup in 2019. During that campaign, he hit .260 (80-for-308) with 50 runs scored and the team went 36-40 with him in the leadoff spot. So far this season, he is hitting .235 (4-for-17) with three runs scored.

CRAIG HITTING CLEANUP: Will Craig drove in a season-high three RBI Friday night while recording his first hit of the season in the cleanup spot of Indy's lineup. The first baseman led Indianapolis with a career-high 23 home runs in 2019, 22 of which came during his 123 starts in the four-hole for Indianapolis. In that spot of the lineup in 2019, he hit .246 (116-for-471) with 45 extra-base hits. He also had 143 strikeouts in that spot and led the team with 146 on the season, the most by an Indians player in franchise history and highest mark since Mike Fuentes (133) in 1984.

SITTING 'EM DOWN: The Indians pitching staff fanned 12 batters on Friday night for its fourth consecutive game with 10+ strikeouts, a feat that has never been accomplished to open a season in the Victory Field era. In 2018, the pitching staff fanned 15, 16 and 10 batters for a streak of three double-digit strikeout games to begin a season. In 2019, the Indians fanned double-digit batters in three or more consecutive games a trio of times over the season, the longest streak coming from July 11-16 (six games) with a total of 76 strikeouts in that span. The 2019 club ended the campaign with a franchise-record 1,244 strikeouts.

YA-HOO DEBUTS: Right-handed pitcher Miguel Yajure is set to make his Triple-A debut this afternoon as Pittsburgh's highest-ranked prospect (No. 10 BA, No. 12 MLB Pipeline) currently on the Indians roster. He was traded to Pittsburgh on Jan. 24, 2021 in a deal that sent former Indians pitcher Jameson Taillon to the Yankees in exchange for a handful of young farmhands. The 23-year-old made his MLB debut in 2020 without seeing any career time in Triple-A and has made one start with Pittsburgh so far this season (4/21 (2) at Detroit; L, 4.1ip, 4h, 4r, 4er, 2hr, 2bb, 4k).

BIGGER BASES: After finishing tied for 10th out of 14 International League teams in stolen bases in 2019, the Indians are taking advantage of the rule change to expand the size of bases in the Triple-A East for the first half of the season and lead the league with six bags swiped. The Indians are 6-for-6 in stolen base attempts through the first four games, and are one of nine teams with a stolen base and no caught stealing. Indianapolis' 69 stolen bases last season marked a Victory Field era low and the lowest bases swiped by the team since 1971 (66). The experimental rule change by MLB this season for Triple-A is as follows:

To reduce player injuries and collisions, the size of first, second and third base will be increased from 15 inches square to 18 inches square. The Competition Committee also expects the shorter distances between bases created by increased size to have a modest impact on the success rate of stolen base attempts and the frequency with which a batter-runner reaches base on groundballs and bunt attempts.

FORMER PROSPECTS: Left fielder Dustin Fowler launched his first Indians home run on Wednesday to knot the game at 3-3 before the Cubs offensive boost. Fowler spent the entire 2020 season at Oakland's Alternate Training Site before being traded to Pittsburgh in February. The 26-year-old was named as a top 10 prospect in both the Yankees and A's systems from 2016-18, and was rated the No. 88 overall prospect by Baseball America prior to the 2018 campaign. Fowler is joined in the Indians outfield by another former top prospect, Anthony Alford, who was ranked as Toronto's No. 1 prospect and No. 25 overall by Baseball America in 2016.

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