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Game Information: Indianapolis Indians (24-20) at Louisville Bats (16-28)

June 25, 2021 - International League (IL)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


LOCATION: Louisville Slugger Field

FIRST PITCH: 7:00 PM ET

GAME #45 / Road #27: Indianapolis Indians (24-20) at Louisville Bats (16-28)

PROBABLES: RHP Mitch Keller (0-0, 0.00) vs. RHP Riley O'Brien (2-2, 4.62)

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

TV: MiLB TV

LAST NIGHT: With a five-run first inning en route to a 6-2 win over the Bats last night, the Indians cut Louisville's lead in the series to 2-1. Anthony Alford led off the game with a single and was driven in as the first run of the game by Kevin Kramer. With runners at the corners and one out, Wilmer Difo drove home Kevin Kramer on a sacrifice fly to extend the Indians lead to 2-0. Bligh Madris and T.J. Rivera then went back-to-back to opposite sides of the ballpark to extend the Indianapolis lead to 5-0 before Louisville could come to the plate. The Bats loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom half of the frame but only plated one on a sacrifice fly by Alfredo Rodriguez. The two teams traded runs in the fifth inning, the Indians on back-to-back one-out doubles by Chris Sharpe and Kramer, and the Bats on a solo home run by Narciso Crook.

BACK-TO-BACK JACKS: Bligh Madris and T.J. Rivera's back-to-back home runs last night in the top of the first inning were the Indians third set of consecutive home runs this season, following Kevin Kramer and Will Craig on May 12 and Anthony Alford and Christian Bethancourt on May 13, both vs. Toledo. The Indians hit back-to-back home runs three times in 2019, with the single-season high coming at five in 2009.

ALFORD'S AMAZING STRETCH: Before exiting last night's game following a collision with Bats first baseman Logan Morrison, Anthony Alford went 1-for-4 to extend his on-base streak to 17 consecutive games dating back to June 1. In that stretch, he is hitting .404 (21-for-52) with a .557 on-base percentage and 1.269 OPS. He also hit safely in a team-high nine consecutive games from June 10-22 with a .464 average (13-for-28), .625 OBP and 1.446 OPS.

JOIN THE RIVERA CLUB: With a 2-for-4 performance last night and his third home run of the season, T.J. Rivera continued his hot streak this month. In June, he is hitting .328 (20-for-61) with three doubles, three home runs and seven RBI. It was his second consecutive multi-hit game after going 2-for-4 with a double on Wednesday at Louisville. Dating back to June 15, Rivera has hit safely in seven of eight games with a .407 average (11-for-27), .414 on-base percentage and 1.117 OPS.

LAST NIGHT'S KELLER: Kyle Keller allowed one run in two innings during the third start of his career last night at Louisville. He surrendered back-to-back hits to begin the outing but got out of the bases-loaded jam with a strikeout of Beau Taylor. This season, Keller is 2-0 with a 1.80 ERA (3er/15.0ip), 0.80 WHIP and .189 average against (10-for-53). His last start came on Aug. 12, 2017 (2) with Single-A Greensboro vs. Kannapolis, where he pitched a career-high 4.0 innings.

POSITION PLAYER PITCHING: With a 6-2 lead over the Bats, utilityman Christian Bethancourt entered to pitch for the Indians in the ninth inning last night. He allowed one hit and struck out Brantley Bell in his first appearance on the mound since 2017. During that 2017 campaign, Bethancourt made 34 appearances (one start) with Triple-A El Paso and went 3-2 with an 8.21 ERA (38er/41.2ip) and 23 strikeouts.

TONIGHT: The Indians will look to tie the series with a win at Louisville tonight at 7:00 PM. RHP Mitch Keller will make his first start with Indianapolis this season after two relief appearances. Keller will face RHP Riley O'Brien, who is 2-2 with a 4.62 ERA (20er/39.0ip) and 44 strikeouts in eight starts with Louisville. He is coming off a win in his last start on June 19 at Omaha, when he allowed two runs in five innings with a season-high tying eight strikeouts.

TONIGHT'S KELLER: Mitch Keller will make his first start since June 10 with Pittsburgh tonight at Louisville. In two relief appearances with Indianapolis since being optioned on June 12, Keller has allowed one unearned run in 2.2 innings. After striking out two batters in his first inning of work on June 16, Keller walked three batters and allowed one hit in 1.2 innings on June 20 vs. Memphis. As a Triple-A starter with the Indians in 2019, the eventual International League Most Valuable Pitcher went 7-5 with a 3.56 ERA (41er/103.2ip) and team-leading 123 strikeouts. He also made his MLB debut with the Pirates that season and has since gone 5-13 with a 6.31 ERA (82er/117.0ip) and 132 strikeouts in 28 big-league starts.

MATINEE MARATHON: The four-hour, 19-minute marathon between Indianapolis and Memphis on Sunday is tied for the sixth-longest game in Victory Field history and the longest in only 11 innings. It was the longest game since Aug. 1, 2015 when the Indians went for just as long in 13 innings vs. Charlotte. The longest game in Victory Field history came on June 9, 2013 when Indy and Norfolk played 13 innings in four hours and 42 minutes.

WALK-OFF GRAND SLAMS: After Tuesday's 10th inning blast by Michael De Leon, the last two walk-off grand slams surrendered by the Indians have come at Louisville. Tuesday was the first walk-off slam allowed by Indianapolis since Sept. 2, 2013, when Denis Phipps hit a two-out grand slam in the bottom of the ninth inning vs. position player Matt Hague. The Indians entered the inning with a 5-2 lead and surrendered five runs in the inning for the loss.

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