IL Indianapolis Indians

Game Information: Indianapolis Indians (3-4) at Louisville Bats (2-5)

April 8, 2023 - International League (IL)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


LOCATION: Louisville Slugger Field

FIRST PITCH: 1:05 PM ET

GAME #8 / ROAD #5: Indianapolis Indians (3-4) at Louisville Bats (2-5)

PROBABLES: RHP Mike Burrows (0-0, 1.80) vs. RHP Chase Anderson (0-0, 3.60)

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

TV: MiLB TV

ABOUT LAST NIGHT: Tucupita Marcano roped a career-high three doubles as the Indianapolis Indians secured their third straight victory over the Louisville Bats at Louisville Slugger Field on Friday night, 5-3. In the Indians first plate appearance, Marcano smacked his first double of the night and walks issued to Mark Mathias and Nick Gonzales loaded the bases. A wild pitch by Louisville starter Brandon Williamson plated Marcano to give Indy an early 1-0 lead. Both teams traded a pair of runs in the fifth frame. With the bases loaded and one out, Cal Mitchell grounded into an RBI fielders' choice and Miguel Andújar followed with an RBI single. Louisville responded with a pair of RBI singles. Leading 3-2 in the top of the sixth, Endy RodrÌguez roped an RBI single that resulted in the eventual winning run of the contest. J.C. Flowers entered the game in the bottom half of the frame and tossed a scoreless frame to earn his first career Triple-A win. Louisville cut the deficit to one run again with a Chuckie Robinson RBI single and threatened to do more damage in the eighth. They had the bases loaded with an out, but reliever John O'Reilly retired the next two batters to escape the jam en route to a five-out save.

TRIPLE-DOUBLE: Tucupita Marcano went 3-for-5 on Friday night with a career-high three doubles and scored three of Indy's five total runs. He is the first Indians batter to hit three doubles in a game since Josh Bell on June 11, 2016 vs. Syracuse. It was the 17th occurrence of the Victory Field era record and the first time a three-double game happened on the road since Jaff Decker on June 27, 2014 at Durham.

MARCANO STAYS HOT: Tucupita Marcano continues to have an excellent start to the season, hitting .500 (12-for-24) with six doubles, a triple, home run, five runs scored, .958 slugging-percentage and 1.458 OPS. He has six of Indy's 12 total doubles this season. He leads the International League in slugging-percentage, doubles, extra-base hits and total bases while also ranking in hits (2nd), average (3rd), OPS (3rd) and OPS (4th). Marcano spent most of last season with Pittsburgh, playing in 49 games with a .206 batting average (33-for-160), six doubles, two triples, two home runs and 13 RBI. In two stints with Indianapolis, he hit .287 (29-for-101) with five doubles, three home runs and nine RBI.

SWEEP VICTORY: Thursday night was the 14th doubleheader for the Indians in Louisville since the start of the 1982 season. In the 12 occurrences between Indy sweeping the Bats on May 9, 1982 and again on April 6, 2023, the Indians had been swept in three doubleheaders and split the other nine. In the May 9, 1982 sweep, Greg Harris (7.0ip, 6h, 3r, 2er, 1bb, 6k) and Bill Dawley (7.0ip, 4h, 1r, 0er, 1bb, 5k) paired for complete-game efforts in Game 1 and Game 2, respectively. Thursday night was the Indians first doubleheader sweep of Louisville since Sept. 1, 2016 at Victory Field behind winning efforts from Tyler Glasnow (Game 1) and Trevor Williams (Game 2).

EARLY AND OFTEN: Travis Swaggerty's leadoff home run in Game 1 on Thursday night was his third in an Indians uniform after launching two during the 2021 season. His trio of leadoff homers makes him one of six Indians since 1996 with three-plus leadoff shots. He joins Max Moroff (4), Brian Bixler (3), Oneil Cruz (3), Damian Jackson (3) and Andrew McCutchen (3) in rare company.

INDY VS. LOUISVILLE: The Indians took the season series against Louisville in '22, going 11-7 with a 5-1 record at Louisville Slugger Field. With Friday's third straight win, the Indians have jumped out to a 3-1 lead in their first six-game series of the season with Louisville and could earn their first series win of the series today at 1:05 PM ET. Today, Mike Burrows (0-0, 1.80) will take the mound for Indy against Louisville's Chase Anderson (0-0, 3.60). Burrows has made one career start against Louisville on Aug, 6, 2022. In his lone start against the Bats, he took the loss after tossing 5.0 innings and surrendered four runs (three earned) on five hits, one walk and two strikeouts. Anderson has made two appearances (one start) against Indianapolis, he's thrown 6.0 innings and allowed four runs on eight hits and five strikeouts.

BURROWS ON THE BUMP: Mike Burrows will make his second start of the season today and look to build off his solid season debut last Sunday. In his first start of the season against Omaha, he tossed 5.0 one-run innings on two hits, two walks and a strikeout. Last season, he flourished in Double-A Altoona, earning himself a bid to the SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game in Los Angeles alongside teammate Henry Davis. He went 4-2 in an Eastern League-leading 12 starts (T-1st) and also ranked among leaders with 69 strikeouts (7th) at the time of his promotion to Indy on June 16. In his 12 Triple-A appearances (10 starts), he went 1-4 with a 5.31 ERA (25er/42.1ip) and 42 strikeouts compared to only 12 walks. The 23-year-old showed glimpses of what's to come in an excellent August, going 1-1 with a 2.20 ERA (4er/16.0ip) and 16 strikeouts in four games (three starts) which includes his best Triple-A start on Aug. 19, when he tossed 5.0 scoreless frames on four hits, a walk and six punchouts. The right-hander enters the 2023 season as Pittsburgh's No. 9 rated prospect.

THIS DATE IN 1990: In just the third game of the season, Indians third baseman Jerry Goff went 3-for-5 with two home runs and a franchise-record tying eight RBI in a 9-6 win at Iowa. Goff's eight RBI tied Mike Stenhouse's single-game RBI record of eight, which he set on May 10, 1984 vs. Evansville. Goff's historic performance was interrupted in the fifth inning when Indy center fielder James Steels drifted back toward the fence for a catch, but his spikes got stuck in the base of the wall. The game was delayed as Iowa's grounds crew had to help him escape.

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