IL Indianapolis Indians

Game Information: Indianapolis Indians (59-65) vs. Nashville Sounds (68-56)

September 29, 2021 - International League (IL)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


LOCATION: Victory Field

FIRST PITCH: 7:05 PM ET

GAME #125 / Home #61: Indianapolis Indians (59-65) vs. Nashville Sounds (68-56)

PROBABLES: RHP John O'Reilly (0-2, 6.35) vs. RHP Josh Lindblom (5-4, 3.16)

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

TV: MiLB TV

SUNDAY: The Indians raked 14 hits, including five home runs, to score a season-high 17 runs and earn their second win of the Triple-A Final Stretch at Omaha on Sunday, 17-12. Oneil Cruz started things with a leadoff home run, his third in an Indians uniform. The Indians then batted around the order in the second inning, adding seven runs on four hits to take an 8-0 lead. The Storm Chasers fought back and brought the score within one, 8-7, but the Indy offense buried them with three home runs in the top of the fourth inning. Michael Chavis hit his 14th home run of the season, followed by Christian Bethancourt who launched his first home run of the game. Hunter Owen collected the third home run of the inning with his career-high 20th home run, beating his previous of 19 in 2019. Bethancourt added his second home run of the game in the top of the eighth inning.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Rodolfo Castro was named the Triple-A East Player of the Week (Sept. 20-26) on Monday after he hit three home runs in four games at Omaha last week. The infielder was promoted to Indy from Double-A Altoona on Sept. 20 and made his Triple-A debut one week ago. He started in four games during the five-game road trip and hit .471 (8-for-17) with two doubles, three home runs and seven RBI. His three home runs tied for first among league leaders for the week. He also ranked in the top 10 in slugging percentage (2nd, 1.118), hits (T-2nd), extra-base hits (T-2nd, 5), batting average (3rd), OPS (3rd, 1.618), total bases (3rd, 19), runs scored (T-3rd, 6), RBI (T-3rd), doubles (T-4th) and on-base percentage (T-8th, .500).

HOMERS THAT HELP: With five home runs on Sunday, the Indians took a lead in the Triple-A Final Stretch Homers That Help contest. Indy totaled 14 homers in the series at Omaha to take a two-homer lead over the second place Storm Chasers (12). For every home run hit, Minor League Baseball will donate $50 to a local charity for each respective Triple-A team, and the Indians 14 home runs is equal to $700 raised for Indy RBI. The winner of the home run challenge will be given an additional $5,000.

ROLLER COASTER LUMBER CO: Of the Indians 14 home runs during the first half of the Triple-A Final Stretch, eight have come off the bats of Oneil Cruz (PIT No. 3/MiLB No. 53; MLB Pipeline), Mason Martin (PIT No. 17) and Rodolfo Castro (No. 25), who were all promoted from Double-A Altoona on Monday. Cruz and Castro lead the pack with three home runs each. Castro launched a pair of home runs on Thursday night and added a homer on Friday night. Cruz hit one in his Triple-A debut on Wednesday, one on Friday and roped a leadoff home run in the series finale on Sunday. Martin isn't far behind with two home runs after launching a pair on Friday night. They combined for all four of the Indians home runs at Omaha on Friday, which marks the first time this season that they all homered in the same game.

BETHANCOURT BASHES: Christian Bethancourt launched a career-high tying two home runs on Sunday to lead the Indians to victory. He has had four two-homer games in his career with the last coming on June 14, 2018 with Triple-A Colorado Springs. Bethancourt went 3-for-5 with two runs and a career-high five RBI, beating his previous high of four RBI on May 25, 2011 with Single-A Rome. With his five RBI he tied the single-game record by an Indians player this year with Anthony Alford (8/6 @ IOW), Jared Oliva (8/28 vs. LOU) and John Nogowski (9/10 @ LOU). Bethancourt has also raked at Victory Field this season, hitting .325 (49-for-151) with 33 RBI to lead the team.

BLIGH ON BASE: With two singles on Sunday, Bligh Madris extended his on-base streak to 23 games dating back to Aug. 27. During that time frame he notched a team-high 15-game hitting streak from Aug. 28-Sept. 15, the longest of his career. Since Aug. 27, Madris is hitting .322 (28-for-87) with a .378 on-base percentage and .849 OPS with seven doubles, two home runs and 15 RBI. It is the second longest on-base streak by an Indians player this season, trailing Anthony Alford's 25 games from June 1-July 20. During that stretch, Alford hit .415 (34-for-82) with a .538 on-base percentage and 1.258 OPS.

TONIGHT: The Indians begin their last series of the year tonight at 7:05 PM at Victory Field vs. the Nashville Sounds. They last faced the Sounds from June 8-13 at Nashville where they split the six-game series. The Indians will look to finish out the 2021 campaign strong and redeem their 2-3 series loss to Omaha in the Triple-A Final Stretch. RHP John O'Reilly will make his first appearance vs. Nashville and face RHP Josh Lindblom. Lindblom, a former Indians pitcher, started against Indy on June 9 and took the no-decision after throwing four scoreless innings.

YOU'VE BEEN HERE BEFORE: Josh Lindblom will take the mound for Nashville tonight in his first appearance at Victory Field since July 2, 2017 with Indy vs. Louisville. Lindblom made 17 appearances (4 starts) with the Indians during the 2017 season and went 0-2 with a 4.06 ERA (17er/37.2ip) and 33 strikeouts. Eight of his appearances (2 starts) came at Victory Field that season, and in those games he went 0-1 with a 3.86 ERA (9er/21.0ip) with 16 strikeouts.




International League Stories from September 29, 2021


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