IL Indianapolis Indians

Game Information: Indianapolis Indians (46-53) vs. Louisville Bats (41-58)

Published on August 28, 2021 under International League (IL)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


LOCATION: Victory Field

FIRST PITCH: 7:05 PM ET

GAME #100 / Home #47: Indianapolis Indians (46-53) vs. Louisville Bats (41-58)

PROBABLES: LHP Cam Vieaux (2-2, 8.37) vs. LHP Tommy Milone (0-0, 2.63)

RADIO: Fox Sports 1260

TV: MiLB TV / MyINDY-TV 23

LAST NIGHT: The Indians broke a four-game losing streak last night with a walk-off win vs. Louisville in the 10th inning, 3-2. They began the scoring and took their first lead of the series in the second inning off a bases-loaded, one-out walk to Taylor Davis. A strikeout of pitcher Beau Sulser and a long fly ball to center field off the bat of Hoy Park stranded the bases juiced and held the lead at 1-0. Louisville tied the game in the fourth inning with an RBI single off the bat of TJ Friedl and then took the lead with a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning. Facing a 2-1 deficit with two outs and Tucupita Marcano on second base in the bottom of the ninth inning, Bats third baseman Alejo Lopez sailed the throw on a routine ground ball over first baseman Mike Freeman's head, allowing the Indians to score the game-tying run. Indianapolis then won the game on a one-out sacrifice fly off the bat of Bligh Madris with two runners in scoring position in the bottom of the 10th.

SACRIFICING FOR THE WIN: Bligh Madris' sacrifice fly to score the walk-off run in the 10th inning last night was the Indians first walk-off via sac fly since May 21, 2017 in the bottom of the 11th inning vs. Toledo, when Barrett Barnes scored Austin Meadows for a 3-2 win. With two runners on base after a walk to Cole Tucker last night, Chris Sharpe layed down a key sacrifice bunt to move Erik Gonzalez, the automatic runner on second base to begin the inning, and Tucker over 90 feet. Madris then sent a fly ball to deep right-center field to allow Gonzalez to easily score.

BATTLE OF THE BULLPENS: After putting up one run and two hits in the second inning, the Indians were held without a base knock until the ninth inning. Starter Riley O'Brien and three Louisville relief arms shut down the Indians offense before they scored the game-tying and winning runs off Dauri Moreta and Phillip Diehl, respectively. Meanwhile, four Indianapolis bullpen arms combined to shut out Louisville after the fifth inning. Joe Jacques (0.2ip), Cody Ponce (2.0ip), Shea Spitzbarth (1.0ip) and Tyler Bashlor (2.0ip) allowed four total baserunners to keep the game within one run before the offense rallied.

WALK IT OFF: The Indians walk-off at Victory Field last night was their eighth of the season and second in the month of August. Of the eight walk-offs, six have come in extra innings. The eight walk-off wins are the Indians most in a single season dating back to at least the 2016 when they had seven walk-offs. Last night was the first game this season that the Indians have tied the game in the bottom of the ninth inning to force the game to extra innings, but it was the fifth time the Indians came back from a deficit in the bottom of the ninth or later to either win or tie it. Those other four contests are listed below:

June 17 vs. Memphis: Trailed 2-1 in B10, tied the game on E4 to score T.J. Rivera; Won in 11th on Difo RBI 1B

June 20 vs. Memphis: Trailed 7-6 in B11; Won in 11th on Bethancourt RBI 1B, Difo scored on other advancement

July 1 vs. Iowa: Trailed 5-4 in B10, tied the game on SF by Bethancourt; Trailed 6-5 in B12, won in 12th inning on Bethancourt two-run 1B

Aug. 10 vs. St. Paul: Trailed 8-7 in B9; Won in 9th on Chavis two-run HR

TONIGHT: The Indians will look to tighten the six-game series vs. Louisville tonight at 7:05 PM ET. The Bats have won three of four in the series. Louisville currently leads the season series, seven games to three, after going 4-2 over the first six games from June 22-27. The Indians haven't finished below .500 against the Bats in the season series since 2016 and will have to win six of the remaining eight games between the two teams to continue that streak. In a battle of southpaws, LHP Cam Vieaux will make his second career start against Louisville and first since June 1, 2019. For the Bats, LHP Tommy Milone will make his fourth career start vs. Indianapolis and first since April 24, 2018 at Victory Field. Milone is 2-1 in four career starts vs. Indy with a 3.57 ERA (9er/22/2ip), 24 hits allowed and 23 strikeouts. In three starts in the Circle City he is 1-1 with a 4.58 ERA (9er/17.2ip), 21 hits allowed and 18 strikeouts.

STATE OF THE ROSTER: Sixty-six different players have now appeared for Indianapolis, which ties the 2019 total with 30 games still to be played this season. Of the 66, 34 pitchers, five catchers, 16 infielders and 11 outfielders have appeared in an Indians uniform, with a handful of those coming on major league rehab assignments. Twelve members of the Indians Opening Day roster are currently active on the team, but only half of those have spent the entire season on Indy's roster while staying healthy.

HOME: After beginning the season with a 16-5 record at Victory Field this season, the Indians have gone 8-17 over their last 25 home contests. They won their first three home series vs. Toledo (five games to one, May 11-16), Columbus (4-2, June 1-6) and Memphis (5-1, June 15-20) but have already guaranteed a series split, at best, for their fifth home series in a row this week.

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