IL1 Indianapolis Indians

Game Information: Indianapolis Indians (22-19) vs. Louisville Bats (13-27)

Published on May 22, 2018 under International League (IL1)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


The Indians and Bats play the second contest of their four-game series and first of three consecutive day games this morning at Victory Field.

Location: Victory Field

First Pitch: 11:05 a.m. ET

Game #42 / Home #21: Indianapolis Indians (22-19) vs. Louisville Bats (13-27)

Probables: RHP Clay Holmes (2-2, 4.31) vs. LHP Cody Reed (0-2, 4.24)

Radio: FoxSports975.com / iHeart app

TV: MiLB TV / Comcast 90

From the Notes

ABOUT LAST NIGHT: The Indians took the series opener over Louisville last night in dramatic fashion, 3-2. The Tribe grabbed a 3-0 lead after three innings of play. Christopher Bostick doubled and scored on a two-out single by Jacob Stallings in the first. Then in the third, the Indians added two more runs on run-scoring hits by Pablo Reyes and Bostick. J.T. Brubaker's counterpart, Brandon Finnegan, clubbed a two-run homer for Louisville in the top of the fifth to finish out the scoring. It was his seventh hit in 77 career at-bats. Bo Schultz, Tanner Anderson and Johnny Hellweg shut the door over the final three frames. Hellweg nearly blew his first save, but an unconventional 6-4-3-2 double play sealed the victory. The relay throw from Kevin Newman caromed off the first-base dugout railing, but a heads-up play by Tribe first baseman Wyatt Mathisen on the carom led to him cutting down Gabby Guerrero trying to score at the plate.

HOLMES AT HOME: Clay Holmes looks to build off six shutout innings in his most recent start on May 17 at Norfolk. He has traditionally been solid at Victory Field, going 7-3 with a 2.48 ERA (22 ER/80.0 IP) in his first 17 games (16 starts) there. His last two home starts, however, have been troublesome; he's 0-2 with an 8.68 ERA (9 ER/9.1 IP).

SUNNY DAYS: Holmes has been especially good for the Tribe in day games since the beginning of the 2017 season. In 11 career daytime starts wtih Indy, the right-hander is 5-1 with a 2.34 ERA (15 ER/57.2 IP).

PLAYER OF THE MONTH CANDIDATE: Jose Osuna took home the third IL Player of the Month Award since 1998 for Indy this past April. Kevin Newman is making a strong case to win the May honor. He logged another two hits in last night's 3-2 victory. Named IL Player of the Week on May 14 for the week of May 7-13 in which he hit .519 (14-for-27), the middle infielder posted a .370 clip (10-for-27) with four RBI and four runs scored in six games this past week on the road. Newman has notched a hit in 17 of 19 games in the month of May and raised his bat-ting average over 90 points (.234 on April 30, .325 after May 20). He ranks among IL leaders in runs scored (1st, 27), hits (1st, 50), batting (6th, .325) and doubles (T-10th, 11) on the season.

PITCH AT YOUR OWN RISP: Through his first 28 games of the season, Christopher Bostick was just 6-for-28 (.214) with three doubles and seven RBI with runners in scoring position. Since May 13 (eight games), the Tribe outfielder has gone 8-for-10 (.800) with one double and nine RBI in those same situations. He is now batting .368 (14-for-38) with RISP this year, the best among Tribe players with 15 or more at-bats with RISP.

BOOM BOSTICK: Bostick went 2-for-4 with a double and RBI last night to improve his average to .338, second in the IL. Bostick has hit safely in 12 of his last 13 games, including multi-hit performances in seven of the last eight. Over his previous 12 contests, the 25-year-old owns a .375 average (21-for-56) with one homer, six doubles, 13 RBI and nine runs scored.

GET 'EM ON, GET 'EM IN: Newman and Bostick are two of the hottest hitters in professional baseball this month. Newman is batting .416 (32-for-77) through 19 games in May, as he tries to become just the fourth player since 2005 to post an average at or above .400 (min. 75 ABs) for an entire month. He needs 11 more knocks to match Josh Bell's record 43 hits set in June 2016. Meanwhile, Bostick owns a .351 average (27-for-77) in 19 games this month. Since May 8, Newman and Bostick rank first and tied for second in the IL in hits with 25 and 21, respectively. Bostick has tallied 13 RBI since May 9, second to only Toledo's Ronny Rodriguez (14) since that date.

TAKE CARE OF BUSINESS: The Tribe started off a favorable stretch of games with their 3-2 win last night. The schedule is considerably softer over the next three weeks. The Indians play Louisville (13-27), Charlotte (17-26), Gwinnett (16-26), Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (19-23), Rochester (21-17) and Pawtucket (18-22) up through June 10. The winning percentage of their next four opponents is .389 (65-102) and jumps slightly to .424 (104-141) when adding the Rochester/Pawtucket road trip.

WY-HIT MATHISEN: Tribe infielder Wyatt Mathisen is batting a combined .429 (21-for-49) with two home runs, one triple, six doubles, 10 RBI, 14 walks and a 1.288 OPS in 20 games between Double-A Altoona and Indy. In eight games with the Tribe, Mathisen is batting.478 (11-for-23) with one home run, three doubles and seven RBI. He has clubbed right-handed pitchers this season; with Altoona he hit .421 (8- for-19) with one triple, three doubles, two RBI and eight walks against righties. In Indy he's batted .700 (7-for-10) with three doubles, five RBI and two walks against right-handers. He is 6-for-20 (.300) with both of his home runs this season coming against southpaws.

#ROLLTRIBE: The Indians lead the IL in average (.282), doubles (110), OBP (.340) and slugging percentage (.432), and they're tied for first in triples (13). The Tribe also rank third in fewest strikeouts (300) and stolen bases (34) and fourth in runs scored (189 - 4.61 runs per game).

TRIBE TRIO: Johnny Hellweg, Tanner Anderson and Dovydas Neverauskas have dominated IL opposition since April 7. The trio has combined for 10 saves and a 0.51 ERA (3 ER/52.2 IP) since that date. They've yielded just 36 hits and 17 walks with 46 strikeouts, posting a 1.01 WHIP along the way.

LINEUP NEVER LIES: Three positive records stand out when specific players hit in certain spots of the Tribe lineup this season. The Indians are 11-4 when Kevin Kramer hits fifth, 13-5 when Jacob Stallings bats sixth and a perfect 8-0 when Jerrick Suiter bats in the No. 8 spot.

Check out the Indianapolis Indians Statistics

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International League Stories from May 22, 2018


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