IL Indianapolis Indians

Game Information: Indianapolis Indians (20-17) vs. Memphis Redbirds (15-23)

June 17, 2021 - International League (IL)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


LOCATION: Victory Field

FIRST PITCH: 7:05 PM ET

GAME #38 / Home #15: Indianapolis Indians (20-17) vs. Memphis Redbirds (15-23)

PROBABLES: RHP Cody Ponce (0-2, 6.66) vs. RHP Angel Rondon (0-3, 5.32)

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

TV: MiLB TV/ MyINDYTV 23

LAST NIGHT: Off three massive home runs out to left field and a stellar starting performance by Beau Sulser, the Indians won their fourth consecutive game to tie a season-high winning streak and take a 2-0 series lead on Memphis last night. Anthony Alford got things started en route to the 6-1 win over the Redbirds with a 450-foot leadoff home run out to the left-field concourse. Chris Sharpe followed Alford in the fifth inning with a two-out, three-run shot of his own to extend the Indians' lead past the reach of the Redbirds. Jason Delay then bounced one off the Yuengling Landing roof in the left-field corner for his first long ball of the season. Memphis broke up the shut out with one run in the top of the eighth inning, but the Indians took it right back off a sacrifice fly by T.J. Rivera in the bottom half.

VICTORIES AT THE VIC: With the win vs. Memphis last night, the Indians are now 11-3 (.786) at Victory Field for their best start to a home campaign since the 2013 season. In 2013, Indy began the season with a 17-3 (.850) record at home through May 12 and had a 27-11 (.711) overall record in that span. The Indians ended that season 41-31 (.569) in the Circle City. The best Victory Field record in a single season came in 1997, the Indians first full year at the corner of West and Maryland Street, when they went 49-23 (.681).

OPENING ON TOP: With one run in the bottom of the first inning off an Anthony Alford solo home run, the Indians have now scored in the first frame in four consecutive games dating back to June 12 at Nashville. When scoring at least one run in the first inning, the Indians are 10-2 on the season with the only two losses coming on May 26 and 29 at Omaha. Not only have the Indians been good about opening games with runs on the board, they've won six of their seven series openers this season. With last night's win in Game 2 of the series vs. Memphis, the Indians have now taken a 2-0 lead in two series this season. In the last series with a 2-0 lead, also at Victory Field, the Indians went on to beat Toledo five games to one.

ALFORD LEADING OFF: Anthony Alford launched his second leadoff home run in the past three games last night to put the Indians on top in the first inning. He went 1-for-3 with a walk and two runs scored to improve his on-base percentage to a league-ranking .426 (3rd) in the Triple-A East and his OPS to .949 (8th). On Tuesday, he reached base safely in four of his five plate appearances in the leadoff spot (1B, HBP, 2 BB). Alford came around to score three of the Indians' six runs that night. His first leadoff home run of the season came on Sunday at Nashville and was the Indians' first home run to open a game since Travis Swaggerty on May 11 vs. Toledo.

TABLE SETTING TEAMMATES: With Anthony Alford's second leadoff home run of the 2021 season last night, him and Travis Swaggerty became the third pair of Indians teammates since 2005 to each hit at least two leadoff home runs in a season. Andrew McCutchen and Brian Bixler (3) were the first pair to accomplish the feat during the 2009 season, with Bixler hitting all three of his leadoff home runs in the month of July. Kevin Newman and Max Moroff were the last to do it in 2018.

SULSER SHUTS 'EM DOWN: Beau Sulser tossed six shutout innings vs. Memphis last night for his first career Triple-A quality start and the Indians' first as a team since May 22 at St. Paul (Chase De Jong: 6.0ip, 4h, 1r, 1er, 1bb, 6k). He retired the first seven batters of the game before surrendering a one-out double to Juan Yepez in the third inning, the Redbirds' only extra-base hit of the game. Sulser allowed four hits in the outing with a pair of walks and five strikeouts. The scoreless outing improved Sulser's ERA to 3.82 (15er/35.1ip), eighth-best among qualifying Triple-A East pitchers. The Indians as a team have had five total quality starts this season, with Miguel Yajure and Chase De Jong each recording two.

SCORELESS SPITZBARTH: With one perfect inning last night to close out the win vs. Memphis, reliever Shea Spitzbarth extended his scoreless streak to 9.1 innings dating back to May 23 at St. Paul. In that stretch he has a 0.96 WHIP and .129 average against (4-for-31). In 13 appearances this season, Spitzbarth is 2-1 with a 1.23 ERA (2er/14.2ip) and 11 strikeouts.

CRAIG HITTING CLEANUP: With a 2-for-4 performance last night, Will Craig recorded his fourth multi-hit game in six contests during the month of June. Since returning to the Indians' lineup from Pittsburgh on June 10, Craig is hitting .417 (10-for-24) with three doubles, five RBI and five runs scored. In 13 total games with Indianapolis this season, he is hitting .320 (16-for-50) with five doubles, three home runs, 12 RBI and nine runs scored.

KELLER'S K'S: Mitch Keller made his first Triple-A appearance this season last night out of the Indians' bullpen. He threw eight pitches, all for strikes, to induce a ground ball and two strikeouts in the frame. It was just the second relief appearance of his career and first since July 11, 2014 with GCL Pirates when he tossed 3.0 one-hit innings vs. GCL Phillies.

TONIGHT: The Indians will look to extend their winning streak to a season-high five games tonight at 7:05 PM ET vs. the Redbirds. RHP Cody Ponce will take the mound to try and earn his first win of the season. He is coming off a loss at Nashville when he surrendered five earned runs on three hits and two walks in 2.2 innings. Ponce will face off against Angel Rondón, who was optioned to Memphis yesterday after pitching a scoreless relief inning with St. Louis on June 12 at Chicago (NL). In four starts with Memphis this season, Rondón is 0-2 with a 4.12 ERA (9er/19.2ip) and 13 strikeouts.

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