IL1 Indianapolis Indians

Game Information: Indianapolis Indians (56-54) vs. Columbus Clippers (62-48)

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


The Indians and Clippers play the second of a three-game set tonight at The Vic.

LOCATION: Victory Field

FIRST PITCH: 7:05 p.m. ET

GAME #111 / HOME #55: Indianapolis Indians (56-54) vs. Columbus Clippers (62-48)

PROBABLES: LHP Brandon Waddell (1-3, 8.50) vs. LHP Logan Allen (4-3, 5.15)

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

TV: MiLB TV / Comcast 90

LAST NIGHT: Mitch Keller had a 12-strikeout performance over 6.0 innings erased by a four-run sixth that lifted Columbus to a 5-3 comeback win over the Indians on Friday night. The Tribe grabbed a 1-0 lead in the second on a Kevin Kramer double and run-scoring singles by Jason Martin and Cole Tucker. Indy had a chance to extend its lead in the fourth, but Martin was thrown out at the plate on a Tucker two-out single to right. Keller cruised until the sixth. Eric Haase opened the frame with a triple to deep right-center and scored on a Mark Mathias groundout. The Clippers then strung four straight one-out hits together, highlighted by a Ryan Flaherty go-ahead, two-run double and an insurance RBI double by Bobby Bradley. Haase added a two-out RBI triple in the ninth, but the Indians didn't go down without a fight. Christian Kelley worked a one-out walk and Tucker drew a two-out walk. Jake Elmore then reached on a fielder's choice to third as Tucker beat Flaherty's throw to second. Hayes followed that with a bases-loaded walk to make it 5-3, but Will Craig went down swinging for the final out. The loss snapped a three-game winning streak for Indy and pushed its division deficit back to 6.0 games with 30 games to play.

MAKE IT A DOZEN: Mitch Keller fell one strikeout short of matching his career high of 13 set on June 7 at Toledo (5.0ip, 1h, 0r, 3bb, 13k) with 12 punchouts last night (6.0ip, 6h, 4r, 4er, 1bb, 12k). It was his third double-digit strikeout performance this season and seventh of his career. Since 1996, there have now been 11 occurrences where a Tribe pitcher piled up 12-plus strikeouts in a start. Keller joined Steve Parris (1998) and Tyler Glasnow (2017) as the only pitchers to have two of those 12-plus strikeout outings.

THE BEAT GOES ON: Two Indians carried seven-game hitting streaks into last night's contest -- Will Craig and Cole Tucker. Craig finished 0-for-4 with a strikeout to snap his streak, during which he 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. Tucker extended his hitting streak to eight games by going 2-for-4 with an RBI, his longest hitting streak of the season. During the stretch he has batted .303 (10-for-33) with eight walks and only four strikeouts. Tucker, 23, has hit safely in 11 of his last 12 overall and has drawn 14 walks since the All-Star break, tied for eighth most in the league.

BE THE HUNTER, NOT THE HUNTED: Hunter Owen had his seven-game hitting streak snapped Thursday night in Toledo 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 seven-game streak, the 25-year-old hit .375 (9-for-24) with two homers, four RBI and four runs scored. He has hit safely in nine of his 13 games with Indy. He started 2-for-16 (.125) through his first four Triple-A games but has bounced back by going 9-for-27 (.333) over his last nine.

J-MART HEATING UP: OF Jason Martin has hit safely in five straight games, including multi-hit performances in three of his last four. He has hit .450 (9-for-20) with three doubles, three RBI and three runs scored in his last five. Martin is also riding a 10-game hitting streak at Victory Field dating back to July 6. It is the longest home hitting streak for a Tribe player this year and the third-longest active streak in the league. He has hit .315 (23-for-73) with two homers, six doubles, 11 RBI, 10 runs scored and a .370 OBP in his last 10 games at home.

ELMO'S WORLD: Jake Elmore went 0-for-5 with a strikeout last night but is still hitting .349 (91-for-261) 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 is narrowly on the outside looking in to qualify among league leaders (currently at 294 PAs, needs 297 PAs for 110 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).

YOUR TURN, PARKER: RHP Parker Markel was recalled by Pittsburgh today as RHP Richard Rodriguez was placed on the paternity list. Markel was claimed off waivers by the Pirates from Seattle on July 27 and proceeded to go 1-0 while throwing 3.0 shutout innings in two appearances with Indy. The 28-year-old is the 17th different player (excluding rehabbers) to be recalled or selected by Pittsburgh, and he's the 12th pitcher to go up this season, joining RHPs Michael Feliz, Clay Holmes, Montana DuRapau, Geoff Hartlieb, Rookie Davis, Alex McRae, Mitch Keller, Dario Agrazal, Yefry Ramirez and Luis Escobar, and LHP Tyler Lyons. This will be Markel's second stint in the big leagues this season; he debuted with Seattle on May 12 and went 0-0 with a 15.43 ERA (8er/4.2ip) in five outings.

BIG WHIFFA: Indy's staff has racked up 993 strikeouts through 110 games (9.03 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 1,264 strikeouts which would easily exceed the current franchise record of 1,153 set in 2013.

PLAY 'EM CLOSE: The Indians have played 78 of their 110 games (70.9 percent) 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 110, 71.8 percent). Ten of Indy's last 12 games have been decided by three runs or less, as well (83.3 percent). This season's 70.9% 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.

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International League Stories from August 3, 2019


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