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IL Indianapolis Indians

Game Information: Indianapolis Indians (21-23) at Columbus Clippers (22-22)

May 23, 2023 - International League (IL)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


LOCATION: Huntington Park

FIRST PITCH: 7:05 PM ET

GAME #45 / ROAD #15: Indianapolis Indians (21-23) at Columbus Clippers (22-22)

PROBABLES: RHP Osvaldo Bido (2-3, 3.31) vs. RHP Aaron Civale (ML Rehab)

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

TV: Bally Live app / MiLB TV

ABOUT SUNDAY: Quinn Priester continued his outstanding month of May with 5.0 scoreless innings and Malcom Nuñez rocked a three-run home run in the eighth inning to carry the Indianapolis Indians to a 5-1 win over the Iowa Cubs on Sunday afternoon at Victory Field. The Indians never trailed in the finale to earn the series split. Ben Brown retired the first five batters he faced before four straight Indians reached safely with two down in the second inning. Nuñez and Aaron Shackelford collected back-to-back singles ahead of walks by Josh Bissonette and Chavez Young, the latter base on balls coming on a 3-2 pitch that narrowly missed below the strike zone. Indy doubled its advantage in the fifth thanks to another two-out rally. Nick Gonzales singled before Canaan Smith-Njigba smacked a double into the right-field corner of Vinny Nittoli. Iowa tallied its lone run in the eighth on a wild pitch by Angel Perdomo, but Nuñez's three-run blast in the eighth gave the Indians their largest lead of the day to complete the scoring. The long ball was his fourth of the season to go with a game-high three RBI. The Indians were outhit 8-6, it was the first time this season in 18 games where the Indians won a game in which they were outhit.

NUNEY BLASTS ONE: Third basemen Malcom Nuñez is hitting .340 (17-for-50) with four doubles, two home runs, 13 RBI, a .431 on-base percentage, .540 slugging-percentage and .971 OPS in 14 games this month. He blasted his team-high tying fourth home run of the season on Sunday afternoon, effectively slamming the door on the I-Cubs chances of a rally. The 22-year-old leads the team with 24 RBI, he has driven in a run in six of his last 10 games - including three three-RBI games.

STAFF KEEPS COMPETING: The Indians pitching staff was the highlight of the homestand, with a 2.16 team-ERA (12er/50.0ip) over the six games against the I-Cubs. They held the I-Cubs to two runs or less in four of the six contests. The Indians have the fourth-best team-ERA in the International League (4.27), while also ranking fourth in the league in strikeouts (417).

CSN GET'S GOING: Canaan Smith-Njigba has found his groove at the plate over his last six games, hitting .368 (7-for-19) with three doubles, a home run, six RBI and a 1.113 OPS. Prior to this six-game stretch, he was hitting .129 (4-for-31) in his first eight games with Indianapolis. Smith-Njigba played 52 games with the Indians in 2022, hitting .277 (51-for-184) with 15 doubles, three triples and a homer, before being recalled by Pittsburgh on June 13 to make his major league debut the following day.

QUALITY QUINN: Quinn Priester, Pittsburgh's top pitching prospect according to MLB Pipeline, collected fourth win this month with 5.0 scoreless frames on Sunday afternoon against Iowa. His four-game winning streak is tied for the longest in the International League this and the longest active streak. Priester is 4-0 with a 1.13 ERA (3er/24.0ip) 19 strikeouts, 0.96 WHIP and .214 batting average. As the former 18th overall selection by Pittsburgh in 2019, he is currently rated as the Pirates No. 5 prospect (Baseball America) and the second-best pitcher behind Luis Ortiz (No. 4). Priester finished last season with a 3.29 ERA (33er/90.1ip) overall between Double-A Altoona and a short stint with Indy en route to being honored as the Young Bucs Bob Friend Pitcher of the Year, given to the top-performing minor league pitcher in Pittsburgh's organization.

TRIO OF RELIEVERS: Right-handed relievers Cody Bolton, Carmen Mlodzinski and Eli Villalobos have been excellent in their recent outings. Bolton has a 1.04 ERA (1er/8.2ip) over his last eight outings. Mlodzinksi has only been scored upon once in his six outings with 11 strikeouts in 8.0 innings. Villalobos has surrendered only one hit in 5.0 scoreless innings over his last four outings.

TONIGHT: Tonight, the Indians and Clippers will square off for their second meeting of the season, their first at Huntington Park. The two club's first matched up first at Victory Field from April 25-29, Columbus took three of five games in the rain-shortened series. Tonight, right-hander Osvaldo Bido (2-3, 3.31) will take the mound for the Indians against major league rehabber Aaron Civale. Civale is making his second rehab start, his first was vs. St. Paul on May 18 when he tossed 3.0 scoreless frames.

BIDO ON THE BUMP: Right-hander Osvaldo Bido will make his ninth appearance (seventh start) of the season tonight at Columbus. He is 2-3 with a 3.31 ERA (13er/35.1ip) with 41 strikeouts, 1.19 WHIP and .211 batting average against. His last outing was on May 17 vs. Iowa, he allowed three runs (one earned) in 6.0 innings with six strikeouts, he's allowed only one earned run or less in six of his eight outings. In 2022, he was a mainstay in the Indians rotation and went 3-8 with a 4.76 ERA (63er/119.0ip) and a team-high 129 strikeouts. The 27-year-old was excellent in the last two months of the season, going 2-2 with a 3.09 ERA (15er/43.2ip) and 54 strikeouts ñ which was the second-most in the International League after Aug. 4 ñ in 10 appearances (nine starts).

THIS DATE IN 1998: For the second time in five days, Indians center fielder Pat Watkins recorded a four-hit game en route to an Indianapolis win. Tied at 4-4 through seven innings, the Indians plated eight runs in the eighth and two in the ninth to run away with a 14-4 victory at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Indy had 20 hits as a team, with Watkins and shortstop Damian Jackson accounting for eight of the knocks. Watkins had three doubles, and the Indians tallied nine extra-base hits in total (seven doubles, one triple, one home run).

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