IL1 Indianapolis Indians

Game Information: Indianapolis Indians (56-56) at Norfolk Tides (44-68)

August 6, 2019 - International League (IL1)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


The Indians look to end a three-game losing streak tonight in the opener of a six-game road trip at Norfolk.

LOCATION: Harbor Park

FIRST PITCH: 7:05 p.m. ET

GAME #113 / ROAD #57: Indianapolis Indians (56-56) at Norfolk Tides (44-68)

PROBABLES: RHP James Marvel (3-0, 2.12) vs. LHP Keegan Akin (4-5, 4.76)

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

TV: MiLB TV

SUNDAY: For a third time in as many days, the Indians held a lead of two runs or more but couldn't hold off the Clippers in a 3-2 setback on Sunday, giving Columbus a crucial three-game sweep and 8.0-game division lead with 28 to play. Will Craig put Indy on the board with a two-run homer in the first inning, but Columbus rallied for two runs in the fourth off Alex McRae to even the score. The Clippers sent eight batters to the plate in that frame, despite recording just one hit on an RBI single by Dioner Navarro. Jake Bauers drew a bases-loaded walk, as well. The score remained 2-2 until Ka'ai Tom, already with two game-winning hits vs. Indy during the week, hit a solo homer off Tyler Lyons to open the eighth. The Indians went 1-for-15 with RISP; Columbus was 1-for-11.

NEW CAREER HIGH FOR CRAIG: Will Craig's first-inning homer off Shao-Ching Chiang on Sunday was his 21st of the season, eclipsing his previous career high of 20 set in 2018 with Double-A Altoona. Craig's 21 long balls are the most by a Tribe player in a single season since Brandon Moss hit 22 in 2010. Craig also has a team-leading 63 RBI, which is the most in a season by a Tribe player since Danny Ortiz had 63 in 2017. With another RBI, Craig will have the most RBI in a season by a Tribe player since Matt Hague had 66 in 2014.

WILL CAN HIT: Craig has hit safely in eight of his last nine, 10 of his last 12 and 15 of his last 19 games dating back to July 14. Since that date, he's hit .305 (25-for-82) with four homers, five doubles, 13 RBI, four walks and 28 strikeouts. Craig has nine multi-hit performances since July 14 and leads the team with 26 multi-hit games this year, one ahead of Jake Elmore.

LINE DRIVE ELMORE: Jake Elmore went just 2-for-15 and left a total of 14 runners on base in the three-game series against Columbus after being dubbed the nickname Jake "Line Drive" Elmore. In the two-game set at Toledo prior to the weekend set, he went 5-for-10 at the dish. On the season, the 32-year-old is still hitting a league-best .343 (93-for-271) with four homers, 24 doubles and 26 RBI. After tallying five PAs on Sunday, Elmore is back among league qualifiers in average (1st) and on-base percentage (4th, .405). 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).

J-MART STREAKING: Jason Martin has hit safely in seven straight games, batting .379 (11-for-29) with four doubles, four RBI and three runs scored during the stretch. Martin is also riding a 12-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 longest since Kevin Newman had a 12-game home hitting streak from April 23-May 24, 2018. Martin has hit .305 (25-for-82) with two homers, seven doubles, 12 RBI, 10 runs scored and a .356 OBP in his last 12 games at home.

EXTRA, EXTRA: Kevin Kramer doubled, tripled and recorded his first career outfield assist in left field on Sunday, throwing out Dioner Navarro who tried to tag up from second to third in the sixth inning. Kramer has recorded at least one extra-base hit in five of his last six games and Sunday's two extra-base hit performance was his fifth of the season, the last being a two-double game on July 13 at Columbus. All five of his games with two extra-base hits this season have come against IL West opponents, with the only other occurrence at Victory Field coming on May 3 vs. Louisville. Since the All-Star break, Kramer is hitting .231 (18-for-78) after hitting .270 (70-for-259) in the first half. His second-half OPS is .816 compared to .761 in the first half, however.

NO GUARANTEES: Indy squandered multi-run leads in every game over the weekend vs. Columbus. A breakdown of the weekend series and the last time the Tribe lost three straight games when having leads of two or more is below:

Aug. 2, 2019 vs. COL: led 2-0, lost 5-3 Aug. 11, 2018 vs. PAW: led 2-0, lost 3-2

Aug. 3, 2019 vs. COL: led 3-0, lost 8-6 Aug. 12, 2018 vs. PAW: led 5-0, lost 9-5

Aug. 4, 2019 vs. COL: led 2-0, lost 3-2 Aug. 14, 2018 at SWB: led 3-0, lost 7-3

NOT IDEAL: After getting swept over the weekend, Indy is now just 2-8 against the Clippers in the Circle City and 9-13 in the season series with two meetings left. Since 1988, Indy had never lost eight games at home to Columbus in a season before doing so this year. The Tribe also haven't won a season series over Columbus since 2014, when they won 13 of 21 matchups.

STRUGGLES AT HOME: The Indians are just 26-30 at Victory Field with 14 home games remaining. The Tribe have finished below .500 just two times in the 23-year existence of Victory Field. The only sub-.500 campaigns in the Circle City came in 2002 (35-38) and 2003 (35-37); Indy also finished below .500 on the road those two years, going 32-38 in 2002 and 29-41 in 2003.

THE STAFF: Indy's pitching staff has racked up 1,014 strikeouts through 112 games (9.05 K/game) and are on pace for 1,268 strikeouts for the season, which would easily exceed the current franchise record of 1,153 set in 2013 (records for this stat go back to 1902). Indy's current strikeout total is sixth in the IL. The Indians lead the IL in saves converted (36) and batting average against (.254) and have given up the second-fewest home runs in the league (127). The 127 long balls surrendered are the most in a season for Indy since giving up a franchise-record 145 homers in 2005 (records for this stat go back to 1953).

BUNCH OF NAIL-BITERS: The Indians have played 80 of their 112 games (71.4 percent) within three runs this year, tied with Pawtucket for the highest volume of games decided by three runs or less in the IL. Twelve of Indy's last 14 games have been decided by three runs or less, as well (85.7 percent). This season's 71.4% 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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