IL1 Indianapolis Indians

Game Information: Indianapolis Indians (56-53) vs. Columbus Clippers (61-48)

Published on August 2, 2019 under International League (IL1)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


The Indians look for their fourth consecutive win in the opener of a three-game weekend series with Columbus.

LOCATION: Victory Field

FIRST PITCH: 7:15 p.m. ET

GAME #110 / HOME #54: Indianapolis Indians (56-53) vs. Columbus Clippers (61-48)

PROBABLES: RHP Mitch Keller (7-4, 3.41) vs. RHP Michael Peoples (7-5, 4.67)

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

TV: MiLB TV / Comcast 90

LAST NIGHT: The Tribe used consecutive four-run innings in the fifth and sixth to turn a 2-2 game into an eventual 11-5 rout on Thursday at Toledo. Indy tallied a season-high 18 hits (5 doubles, 3 homers) in the victory (previous high was 16 hits on April 13 vs. Charlotte). Will Craig ignited the first four-run frame with a two-run double, and Trayvon Robinson belted a two-run shot two batters later to extend Indy's lead to 6-2. Christian Kelley then opened the sixth with a solo homer before Robinson drove in two more runs on a single to right. Jason Martin finished the second four-run burst by slashing an RBI double down the left field line. Kevin Kramer put Indy on the board with a solo drive to right-center in the second, and back-to-back doubles by Jake Elmore and Ke'Bryan Hayes in the third made it 2-0. Toledo pulled even on an RBI triple by Dawel Lugo and drag bunt single by Jacob Robson in the bottom half. Parker Markel (W, 1-0) fanned three over two scoreless innings to earn the win while Ryan Carpenter (L, 5-7) yielded six runs on 11 hits in five innings to take the loss. Rehabbing lefty Steven Brault took a no-decision for the Tribe (4.0ip, 3h, 2r, 2er, 5bb, 2k).

THREE GAMES, THREE WINS: The Indians have won three straight games, coinciding with three straight Columbus losses, bringing the Tribe to within 5.0 games of the Clippers with 31 games remaining. The Tribe haven't been within 5.0 games of first place since being 4.5 back following a win vs. Louisville on June 25. Indy seeks its second four-game winning streak since the All-Star break (also: July 20-24) and its fifth of at least that many consecutive wins this season (also: 6 from April 7-13; 5 from May 9-15; 4 from May 21-24).

THREE GAMES, THREE BOMBS: Kevin Kramer has hit home runs -- all solo shots -- in three consecutive games, giving him 10 on the year and five since the beginning of July after he went homerless in June. His first eight home runs this year were all off right-handed pitchers, but each of his last two have come against southpaws Caleb Thielbar and Ryan Carpenter. Still just six of his 35 career homers have come against left-handed pitchers. Kramer had never homered in back-to-back games, let alone three straight, making him the second Tribe player this season to accomplish the feat (also: Pablo Reyes, July 13-15). Since 2012, there have only been nine occurrences where an Indian has homered in three straight games; none of the nine have reached four.

Kevin Kramer: July 30-Aug. 1, 2019 Pablo Reyes: July 12-14, 2018 Willy Garcia: Aug. 1-3, 2015

Pablo Reyes: July 13-15, 2019 Max Moroff: April 6-8, 2017 Brent Morel: June 25-27, 2015

Eric Wood: Aug. 24-26, 2018 Jose Osuna: July 21-23, 2016 Andrew Lambo: Aug. 23-25, 2014

GONZO, REYES GONE: INF Erik Gonzalez was reinstated from the injured list and UTIL Pablo Reyes was recalled by Pittsburgh today, creating room on Indy's roster for RHPs Alex McRae and Montana DuRapau. Gonzalez had a pair of rehab stints with the Tribe and hit .192 (15-for-78) with one homer, one triple, three doubles and 10 RBI in 20 games. He walked just three times while striking out 29 times (35.8% of PAs were strikeouts). Reyes hit .367 (22-for-60) with five homers, four doubles, 13 RBI and a 1.116 OPS in 17 games after the All-Star break, hitting safely in 15 of those contests. Since the break, he ranks among IL leaders in AVG (5th), OPS (5th), SLG (6th, .683) and OBP (8th, .433). In 51 total games with Indy this year, Reyes batted .286 (50-for-175) with 10 homers, 15 doubles, 30 RBI, five stolen bases and an .885 OPS.

SEVEN UP: Will Craig has hit safely in seven straight and nine of his last 10 games overall. During his seven-game streak, he's hit .303 (10-for-33) with one homer, two doubles and four RBI. He homered four times in July after hitting just one long ball in the month of June. Teammate/roommate Cole Tucker is also riding a seven-game hitting streak, batting .276 (8-for-29) with seven walks and only four strikeouts during the stretch. Tucker, 23, has hit safely in 10 of his last 11 overall and has drawn 13 walks since the All-Star break, tied for eighth most in the league.

SEVEN DOWN: Hunter Owen had his seven-game hitting streak snapped last night as he was the only Tribe player to go without a hit, but he did draw two walks and scored a run in the 11-5 win. During the stretch, the 25-year-old hit .375 (9-for-24) with two homers, four RBI and four runs scored.

HIT PARADE FOR HAYES: Ke'Bryan Hayes recorded his 26th double of the season last night as part of his four-hit performance, moving him into a tie for eighth in doubles among league leaders. The four-hit performance was the sixth of his career and first since Sept. 2, 2018 with Double-A Altoona at Bowie. It was also the sixth four-hit game by a Tribe player this year, joining Steven Baron, Jung Ho Kang, Trayvon Robinson (2x) and Cole Tucker. Hayes was just 2-for-20 over his previous five games before going 4-for-5 with a double, sacrifice fly, two RBI and two runs scored last night.

ELMO'S WORLD: Jake Elmore is hitting .355 (91-for-256) with four homers, 24 doubles and 26 RBI after going 5-for-10 with two doubles in the two-game series at Toledo. He leads the team with 25 multi-hit games, one ahead of Will Craig. Elmore needs 89 more plate appearances by the end of the season to qualify among league leaders (currently at 289 PAs, needs 294 PAs for 109 games currently played to qualify). 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).

BIG WHIFFA: Indy's staff has racked up 977 strikeouts through 109 games (8.96 K/game) and finished the month of July with 274 strikeouts in 28 games (9.79 K/game), the most in July 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 1,255 strikeouts which would easily exceed the current franchise record of 1,153 set in 2013.

FASTEN THOSE SEATBELTS: The Indians have played 77 of their 109 games (70.6 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 (79 of 109, 72.5 percent). Nine of Indy's last 11 games have been decided by three runs or less, as well. This season's 70.6% 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.

LINE 'EM UP: Only eight of the Tribe's last 31 games are against teams over .500 -- five at home vs. Columbus (61-48) and three at Durham (63-48). The combined records of Indy's five remaining sub-.500 opponents (3 at NOR, 3 vs. ROC, 4 vs. LHV, 4 at TOL, 2 vs. LOU, 4 vs. TOL, 3 at LOU) is 243-305 (.443).

Check out the Indianapolis Indians Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



International League Stories from August 2, 2019


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central