IL1 Indianapolis Indians

Game Information: Indianapolis Indians (51-46) at Charlotte Knights (47-52)

Published on July 22, 2018 under International League (IL1)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


The Indians will try to avoid a three-game sweep this afternoon against the Knights, winners of a season-high five straight games.

Location: BB&T Ballpark

First Pitch: 12:05 p.m. ET

Game #98 / Road #50: Indianapolis Indians (51-46) @ Charlotte Knights (47-52)

Probables: RHP Mitch Keller (0-1, 13.50) vs. LHP Jordan Guerrero (2-0, 2.68)

Radio: Fox Sports 97.5 / AM 1260 / iHeart app

TV: MiLB TV

From the Notes

ABOUT LAST NIGHT: Jose Rondon became the second Knights player in as many games to log a multi-homer game, lifting Charlotte to a 5-4 win last night to clinch both the weekend and season series against the Tribe. His first blast off Tyler Eppler made it 1-0 and he added a two-run shot with two outs in the fifth to put Indy in a 5-2 deficit. The Tribe nearly clawed out, scoring two runs in the ninth of Thyago Vieira, but Gregory Infante inherited two runners and struck out Kevin Newman and Adam Frazier to end the game. Matt Tomshaw (W, 3-1) tossed 5.1 innings of two-run ball while Eppler (L, 9-5) was charged with five runs on eight hits over 5.0 frames.

MULTI-KRAMER: Kevin Kramer leads the team with 31 multi-hit games, 20 of which have occurred on the road. On the current road trip in six games, he's 13-for-21 (.619) with three doubles, two RBI, three runs scored and three stolen bases. Kramer has hit safely in 11 of his last 13 road starts, batting .489 (23-for-47) with six doubles, one triple and five RBI in those games combined. For the season, his home/road splits are drastic; his triple-slash line in 46 road games is .351/.415/.573 compared to .242/.293/.404 in 44 games at Victory Field.

GET 'EM ON, GET 'EM IN: Adam Frazier tallied six RBI in the four-game set at Gwinnett and has had one RBI in each of the first two games in Charlotte, giving him a career-high six consecutive games with at least one RBI. He is now tied with Jordan Luplow for the longest RBI streak by a Tribe player this season; Luplow had a six-game RBI stretch from June 25-30. Frazier has eight RBI through six games on the current road trip after having 10 RBI through his first 24 games this season with Indy.

BACK WITH THE BOOM: Tribe outfielder Christopher Bostick returned from the 7-day DL yesterday after undergoing an appendectomy the night of June 26. He was placed on the DL on June 27 and missed 21 games, with Indy going 9-12 in his absence. Bostick proceded to go 3-for-4 with two doubles and a run scored in his return from the DL, marking his seventh three-hit game of the season. The Indians have had 15 individual two-double performances this season; Bostick has five of them.

KELLER ON THE BUMP: Mitch Keller, who started for the U.S. Team in the MLB All-Star Futures Game on July 15 in Washington D.C. (1.0ip, 0h, 0r, 0bb, 1k) will make his third career Triple-A start for Indy this afternoon. Keller, 22, was rated by Baseball America as Pittsburgh's No. 1 prospect and No. 12 overall prior to the season. After a rough go in his Triple-A debut at Columbus, Keller rebounded in his second start and struck out 10 over 6.0 innings pitched, the fourth double-digit strikeout game of his career.

FACING A LEFTY: Today will be Indy's 32nd game of the season facing a left-handed starter. They've gone 20-11 in the first 31 games but just 1-3 against southpaw starters on the current road trip. They faced Gwinnett lefties Kolby Allard, Max Fried and Luiz Gohara before facing Matt Tomshaw and now Jordan Guerrero today. As a team, the Indians are batting .288 with 30 home runs and a .477 slugging percentage against left-handed pitchers this season. Against righties, the Tribe are hitting just .268 with 38 home runs and a .397 slugging percentage in 1,212 more at-bats.

STANDINGS SLIDE: The Indians enter today's game against Charlotte one game back of Scranton/W-B in the IL Wild Card race; Norfolk is second in the wild card just a half-game back. Indy remains 1.5 games back of Toledo for first place in the IL West thanks to the Mud Hens going 4-6 over their last 10 contests. Indy has 43 games remaining this regular season, 23 of those coming against teams above .500.

MOVING ON FROM THE SOUTH: The Indians are 13-19 against the IL South this season with today's game being their last regular-season affair. Indy went 5-1 vs. Norfolk but owns an 8-18 mark against Durham, Gwinnett and Charlotte combined. Indy had never lost the season series to the IL South as an affiliate of the Pirates prior to this season. Indy has finished below .500 against the IL South now six times since 1998.

INDY VS. CHARLOTTE: The Indians have lost six of their nine matchups with the Knights this season. From 2015-17, Indy went a combined 17-6 against Charlotte. Since 1998, the Indians have lost the season series to Charlotte just seven times, most recently going 3-5 each year from 2012-14.

DOUBLE-DIGIT HITS x3: The Indians have recorded double-digit hit totals (16, 11, 12) in three straight games, the hot hitting stretch coming on the heels of a 12-game stretch (July 4-18) where the Tribe posted only single-digit hit totals, going 6-6 during that streak. Indy is 27-11 when recording 10-plus hits this season and 24-35 when having nine or less. They are also 41-8 when outhitting their opponents.

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