IL Indianapolis Indians

Game Information: Indianapolis Indians (22-24) at Columbus Clippers (23-23)

Published on May 25, 2023 under International League (IL)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


LOCATION: Huntington Park

FIRST PITCH: 7:05 PM ET

GAME #47 / ROAD #27: Indianapolis Indians (22-24) at Columbus Clippers (23-23)

PROBABLES: LHP Caleb Smith (2-4, 7.17) vs. RHP Triston McKenzie (0-0, 0.00)

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

TV: Bally Live app / MiLB TV

ABOUT LAST NIGHT: Behind home runs from Nick Gonzales, Miguel Andújar, Mark Mathias and Canaan Smith-Njigba, the Indianapolis Indians survived several comeback threats from the Columbus Clippers in a 12-9 win on Wednesday night at Huntington Park. The Indians 12-run performance was their third game with 10 or more runs scored in their last nine games. Indians starter Kent Emanuel surrendered the game's first run of the night, when Columbus first basemen Jhonkensy Noel drew a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the first. In the next half-inning, Indianapolis responded with a four-run frame against Clippers starter Daniel Norris with doubles from Cal Mitchell and right fielder Ryan Vilade, before Gonzales clubbed a two-run homer to straight-away left field. The back-and-forth nature of scoring continued throughout the entirety of the game. Columbus cut the deficit to one in the bottom of the second, but the Indians plated two more in the third and one in the fourth to create separation. The Clippers again threatened when Noel ripped a solo home run and shortstop Brayan Rocchio's RBI double cut the Indians lead to 10-9. However, Vilade responded with an RBI opposite-field single in the eighth, and Smith-Njigba's solo homer in the ninth provided insurance. Reliever Cody Bolton finished the job with two no-hit innings, striking out three.

BOMBS AWAY: The Indians clubbed a season-high four home runs in their 12-9 victory last night, the team's most since Sept. 26, 2021 at Omaha. Miguel Andújar, Nick Gonzales, Mark Mathias and Canaan Smith-Njigba each launched homers. The blasts were the fourth of the season for Andújar, Gonzales and Smith-Njigba, respectively, they are among the eight players with a team-high four homers this season.

NUNEY KEEPS HTTING: Malcom Nuñez extended his hitting streak to nine games last night with a base hit in the sixth inning. The corner infielder is hitting .357 (20-for-56) with four doubles, two home runs, 14 RBI, a .478 on-base percentage, .536 slugging-percentage and 1.014 OPS in 16 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 25 RBI, he has driven in a run in seven of his last 12 games - including three three-RBI games. Since May 6, he ranks among International League qualifiers in average (3rd, .405) and OBP (4th, .519). He leads the team in average, RBI, OBP, slugging-percentage and OPS this month.

CSN GET'S GOING: Canaan Smith-Njigba crushed a home run in the ninth inning for his second blast in as many games. He is hitting .345 (10-for-29) with three doubles, three home runs, eight RBI and a 1.165 OPS. Prior to this eight-game stretch, he was hitting .129 (4-for-31) in his first eight games with Indianapolis. Last night, he ripped his fourth home run of the season in his 16th game with the Indians this season, an improvement from his lone homer in 2022 in 52 games with Indy. Last season in Indy, he hit .277 (51-for-184) with 15 doubles, and three triples before being recalled by Pittsburgh on June 13 to make his major league debut the following day. On Jan. 24, 2021, he was traded to Pittsburgh from New York (AL) with Roansy Contreras, INF Maikol Escotto and RHP Miguel Yajure in exchange for RHP Jameson Taillon. He was originally selected by New York (AL) in the fourth round (122nd overall) of the 2017 First-Year Player Draft out of Rockwall-Heath (Heath, Texas) High School.

THAT'S A BAD MAN: Reliever Carmen Mlodzinski picked up his first win of the season yesterday with 1.2 innings. The 24-year-old recorded four of his five outs via strikeout, his four punchouts was a season-high. Bolton has a 1.04 ERA (1er/8.2ip) over his last eight outings. The right-hander has only been scored upon once in his last seven outings with 11 strikeouts in 9.2 innings. He was selected by Pittsburgh in the first round (31st overall) of the 2020 First-Year Player Draft out of the University of South Carolina (Columbia).

BOLT SHOW: Cody Bolton closed out last night's contest - earning his first save of the season - with two no-hit innings with three strikeouts. The right-hander has made 17 relief appearances this season, he is 1-1 with a 2.08 ERA (4er/17.1ip), 19 strikeouts, 0.98 WHIP and .208 batting average against. Bolton has been most effective on the road this season, he hasn't allowed a run in 10.2 innings while punching out 14 hitters, 0.66 WHIP and .147 AVG. Between two seasons with Indianapolis, Bolton owns a 2.90 ERA (30er/93.0ip) with 101 strikeouts. Pittsburgh selected his contract on April 26 and made his major league debut on April 29 (2) at Washington with 2.0 scoreless frames, he was optioned to Indy on May 9.

TONIGHT: Tonight, the Indians and Clippers will continue their six-game set at Huntington Park at 7:05 PM ET. The Indians earned the win in a high-scoring affair on Wednesday night to even the series after two games. 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, southpaw Caleb Smith (2-4, 7.17) will take the mound for the Indians against major league rehabber Triston McKenzie (0-0, 0.00). McKenzie has one career start at Indianapolis on June 6, 2021, he held the Indians scoreless in 5.1 innings of work

SMITH TAKES THE HILL: Southpaw Caleb Smith is slated to make his ninth appearance (eighth start) of the season tonight. In his last outing in game 2 of a doubleheader with Iowa, he allowed only one run over 6.0 relief innings with four punchouts. His 6.0 innings of work tied his career-high for innings in relief, last time coming on June 27, 2017 at Syracuse while with Triple-A Scranton Wilkes/Barre. On May 8, he was named the International League Pitcher of the Week after tossing a 7.0-inning complete-game shutout in Game 2 of a doubleheader at Toledo on May 4. Smith pitched the first complete-game shutout in all of minor league baseball this season. This season, he is 2-3 with an 7.17 ERA (30er/37.2ip) with 32 strikeouts.

THIS DATE IN 1997: After dropping Game 1 of a doubleheader at Louisville, 4-1, three Indianapolis pitchers combined to throw the first no-hitter in the Victory Field era. Pedro Martinez (5.2ip, 3bb, 3k), Felix Rodriguez (0.1ip, 1k) and Scott Service (1.0ip, 3k) each appeared in the game and rolled through seven innings. First baseman Kevin Maas hit a solo home run in the top of the seventh inning for the only run of the game, giving Service a chance to close out the historic bid. Rodriguez earned the win and improved to 3-3 on the season, and Service earned his sixth save of the year.

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