IL1 Indianapolis Indians

Game Information: Indianapolis Indians (42-40) at Louisville Bats (31-53)

Published on July 3, 2019 under International League (IL1)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


The Indians and Bats play the rubber game of their series tonight in Louisville.

LOCATION: Louisville Slugger Field

FIRST PITCH: 6:45 p.m. ET

GAME #83 / ROAD #44: Indianapolis Indians (42-40) at Louisville Bats (31-53)

PROBABLES: RHP Dario Agrazal (4-3, 4.00) vs. RHP Keury Mella (4-8, 5.07)

RADIO: Fox Sports 97.5 / AM 1260 / iHeart app

TV: MiLB TV

LAST NIGHT: The Indians trailed from start to finish in a 6-1 loss to the Bats on Tuesday night. The Bats scored one run in the first and another in the third before Indy got on the board in the fourth thanks to a two-out double by Will Craig and ensuing RBI single by Trayvon Robinson. Alex McRae (6.0ip, 9h, 2er, 1bb, 4k) kept the Tribe within one run until the bullpen surrendered three in the seventh and one more in the eighth to complete the final score. Cole Tucker and Jason Martin each had two hits in the defeat.

AIN'T NO PARTY LIKE A DARIO PARTY: Dario Agrazal will be making his 10th Triple-A start of the season tonight in the rubber game at Louisville. The Panamanian's last start came in the big leagues with Pittsburgh at Houston, and he earned his first MLB win on June 26 with 6.0 innings of one-run ball. He served up a leadoff homer to George Springer but limited the Astros to four hits and three walks from that point forward. Pittsburgh ran away with the victory, 14-2. Agrazal is 4-3 with a 4.00 ERA in nine Triple-A starts, despite giving up a season-high seven earned runs on eight hits in 4.2 innings pitched in his last Triple-A outing on June 20 at Buffalo.

HAVE WE MENTIONED THE BALL IS DIFFERENT?: Indianapolis led the International League with a .753 OPS in 2018. This year, the Tribe are 13th in the IL with a .750 OPS, narrowly ahead of Pawtucket (.748). Additionally, 12 of the 14 teams in the IL finished with 100-plus home runs in 2018; seven have already eclipsed the century mark in homers this year. In regards to slugging percentage, Durham paced the IL with a .419 clip in 2018 with Indy having the second-highest slugging percentage at .418. Those marks would lead only Pawtucket (.415) in 2019.

VIDEO GAME NUMBERS: To parlay off the blurb above, individual hitters in the IL are having absurd offensive seasons with the major league ball being used in Triple-A. In 2018 in the IL, a total of 18 players hit 15 or more home runs; this year that number has already swelled to 24 players with nearly 60 games left on the schedule. The home run co-leaders in 2018 were Lehigh Valley's Joey Meneses and Toledo's Christin Stewart with 23 apiece; this year's co-leaders are Columbus' Bobby Bradley and Gwinnett's Adam Duvall with 24. Last year's leader in slugging and OPS was Meneses, who had a .510 slugging percentage and .870 OPS. This year, 10 qualifying batters in the IL have slugging percentages north of .550 and nine have an OPS greater than .950.

MARVEL-OUS: The Indians made a pair of roster transactions today with RHP James Marvel being promoted from Double-A Altoona and LHP Jake Brentz going on the temporary inactive list. Marvel, 25, was selected by the Pirates in the 36th round of the 2015 First-Year Player Draft out of Duke University. In 16 starts with the Curve this season, the San Francisco, Calif. native went 9-5 with a 3.16 ERA (35er/99.2ip), .228 average against and 1.07 WHIP. He was especially dominant in June, going 5-0 with a 2.21 ERA (10er/40.2ip) in six outings.

MR. ROBINSON: Trayvon Robinson is riding a six-game hitting streak (June 26-July 2) entering tonight's series finale. The streak is his longest of the season, and he's batted .400 (8-for-20) during the stretch with two homers, one double, five RBI and four runs scored.

SIXER: Eric Wood also enters tonight's game with a six-game hitting streak (June 20-30), his best on the 2019 campaign. Wood, now in his third full season with the Tribe, is hitting .364 (8-for-22) with four doubles, four RBI and three runs during the hot stretch.

MARTIN MAN: Jason Martin has hit safely in six of his last seven starts with four two-hit performances during that stretch. He has accumulated 10 hits in his last 25 at-bats overall (.400) with three doubles, three RBI and three runs scored.

CLOSING TIME: Blake Weiman nailed down his first career Triple-A save on Monday night, making him the 11th Tribe pitcher with at least one save this season. Indy leads the league with 29 saves converted, two ahead of Charlotte. Twelve different pitchers converted at least one save for the Tribe in 2018.

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International League Stories from July 3, 2019


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