IL1 Indianapolis Indians

Game Information: Indianapolis Indians (55-53) at Toledo Mud Hens (48-61)

Published on August 1, 2019 under International League (IL1)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


The Indians seek their third straight win and a two-game sweep tonight against the Mud Hens.

LOCATION: Fifth Third Field

FIRST PITCH: 7:05 p.m. ET

GAME #109 / ROAD #56: Indianapolis Indians (55-53) at Toledo Mud Hens (48-61)

PROBABLES: LHP Steven Brault (MLB rehab) vs. LHP Ryan Carpenter (5-6, 4.88)

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

TV: MiLB TV

LAST NIGHT: Eight of Indy's nine starters tallied at least one hit as the Tribe knocked off Toledo last night in the opener of a two-game set, 6-4. Cam Vieaux (W, 4-2) earned the win (5.0ip, 6h, 3r, 3er, 1bb, 7k). Jake Elmore put the Indians in front in the second with an RBI single, and two innings later, Indy tacked on three runs to go up 4-0. Pablo Reyes scorched a two-run double to plate Will Craig and Kevin Kramer, and Elmore brought in Reyes with a double of his own. Toledo's Mikie Mahtook hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the fourth, but Indy pushed the lead to 5-2 on a Kramer solo shot in the fifth. Jacob Robson made it a 5-3 game with an RBI double in the fifth and Ronny Rodriguez homered off Sean Keselica in the sixth to cut the Mud Hens' deficit to one. Indy had the bases loaded in its final three innings but only came away with one run on a Jason Martin double play in the seventh. Jake Brentz (S, 8) worked around a walk in the ninth for the save.

MEANT TO BE BROKEN: Indy's pitching staff has racked up 969 strikeouts through 108 games (8.97 K/game) and just finished the month of July with 274 strikeouts in 28 games (9.79 K/game), the most K's for the month among all IL teams. The 274 strikeouts in July was also the highest monthly total for the Indians dating back to 2005 (previous high: 260 K's in August 2012). The Indians are on pace for 1,256 strikeouts which would easily exceed the current franchise record of 1,153 set in 2013.

ANOTHER ONE: Kevin Kramer hit his ninth home run of the season last night and fourth in July after going homerless in June. His solo shot in the fifth inning off Caleb Thielbar was his first off a left-handed pitcher this season and just the fifth off a lefty in 34 career blasts. It also gave him home runs in consecutive games for the first time in his career. Kramer hit .244 (20-for-82) with four homers, five doubles and 16 RBI in July but excelled on the road, batting .302 (13-for-43) with three dingers, three doubles and eight ribbies. At Victory Field in July, he hit just .179 (7-for-39).

OWEN STREAKING: Hunter Owen enters tonight's contest riding a seven-game hitting streak dating back to July 18, his longest in Triple-A and the longest active streak for the Indians. During the stretch, the 25-year-old has hit .375 (9-for-24) with two homers, four RBI and four runs scored.

CRAIG CRUISING: Will Craig has hit safely in six straight and eight of his last nine games overall. During his six-game streak, he's hit .296 (8-for-27) with one homer, one double and two RBI. He homered four times in July after hitting just one long ball in the month of June.

COLE TRAIN: Like his roommate/teammate Will Craig, Cole Tucker is on a six-game hitting streak entering tonight's series finale. Tucker has hit .292 (7-for-24) with six walks and only two strikeouts during the streak that dates back to July 25. The 23-year-old has hit safely in nine of his last 10 overall and has walked 12 times since the All-Star break, 10th most in the IL.

REYES ON A ROLL: Pablo Reyes went 2-for-3 with a double, two RBI, two runs scored, a walk and stolen base in last night's triumph. The utilityman has hit .367 (22-for-60) with five homers, four doubles, 13 RBI and a 1.116 OPS in 17 games since the All-Star break, hitting safely in 15 of those contests. Since the break, he ranks among IL leaders in average (7th), OPS (7th) and slugging percentage (8th, .683). During his current four-game hitting streak, Reyes has hit .538 (7-for-13) with one homer, three doubles, four RBI and five runs scored.

DOUBLES MACHINE: Ke'Bryan Hayes recorded his 25th double of the season last night, moving him into a tie for 10th in the league with teammate Kevin Kramer. Last year he had 31 doubles for Double-A Altoona, fourth most in the Eastern League. Over his last five games, Hayes is just 2-for-20 (.100) with one double. In his first 17 games since a return from the injured list on July 4, he hit .310 (22-for-71) with three homers and four doubles.

ELMORE NEEDS 95 MORE: Jake Elmore is hitting .352 (88-for-250) with four homers, 23 doubles and 26 RBI after going 2-for-4 with a double last night. He does not have enough plate appearances to qualify among league leaders yet and needs 95 more by the end of the season to qualify (currently at 283 PAs, need 378 PAs for 140-game schedule). Indy's last batting champion was Junior Noboa (.340) in 1989 and they have had just four batting titles since 1969 (also: Bernie Carbo in 1969, Gene Locklear in 1972, Dallas Williams in 1987).

BRAULT IS BACK: Steven Brault will become the 16th different Pirates player to appear for the Tribe on a rehab assignment this season. Indy had a total of 11 different players rehab for them in the 2017 and '18 seasons combined. Brault made five appearances in relief for Indy last year but took home the International League's Most Valuable Pitcher Award in 2017 after going 10-5 with a 1.94 ERA in 21 games (20 starts). He was a mid and postseason All-Star that year and became just the third pitcher in franchise history to lead the league with a sub-2.00 ERA, joining Paul Carter (1916, 1.65) and James Wallace (1945, 1.83). He was also named Indy's Pitcher of the Year, Pittsburgh's Minor League Pitcher of the Year and was a Baseball America Triple-A All-Star.

CLOSE CALL, AGAIN: The Indians have played 77 of their 108 games (71.3 percent) of their games within three runs this year, the second-highest volume of games decided by three runs or less in the IL to only Pawtucket (78 of 108, 72.2 percent). Nine of Indy's last 10 games have been decided by three runs or less, as well. This season's 71.3% rate of games decided by three or less for Indy would be the highest since the Tribe played 104 of their 143 games (72.7 percent) within three runs in 2009.

HERE WE GO: Indy has 32 games remaining in the regular season and trail Columbus and Durham both by 6.0 games in the IL West and IL Wild Card races. The Indians were last within six games of Columbus on June 26 when they were 5.5 back following a loss at home to the Clippers. Only eight of the Tribe's last 32 games are against teams over .500 -- five at home vs. Columbus (61-47) and three at Durham (62-48). The combined records of Indy's five remaining sub-.500 opponents (10 vs. TOL, 3 vs. NOR, 3 vs. ROC, 4 vs. LHV, 5 vs. LOU) is 240-303 (.442).

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International League Stories from August 1, 2019


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