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Indianapolis Indians

Game Information: Indianapolis Indians (69-60) at Louisville Bats (55-71)

August 24, 2018 - International League (IL1)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


The Indians and Bats open a four-game split series tonight in Louisville.

Location: Louisville Slugger Field

First Pitch: 7:00 p.m. EDT

Game #130 / Road #67: Indianapolis Indians (69-60) @ Louisville Bats (55-71)

Probables: RHP Tyler Eppler (12-6, 3.80) @ RHP Keury Mella (2-1, 3.00)

Radio: Fox Sports 97.5 / AM 1260 / iHeart app

TV: MiLB TV

ABOUT LAST NIGHT: The Indians salvaged the series finale against Columbus by an 8-6 final last night at The Vic. Jose Osuna (2-run) and Kevin Kramer (solo) clubbed home runs during a three-run first inning, and the Indians never trailed to pull back into a first-place tie with the Clippers in the IL West. J.T. Brubaker allowed two runs in the second but retired 11 of the final 12 batters he faced -- eight on strikeouts -- en route to a 5.0-inning start. He surrendered just three hits and walked one, his first walk issued since July 25 vs. Rochester. Ryan Lavarnway had run-scoring singles in the fourth and fifth, and Eric Wood added an RBI double during the four-run fourth that staked Indy a five-run cushion at 7-2. The Indians improved to 11-4 in Brubaker's last 15 starts.

ALL TIED UP: Indy and Columbus are tied for first place in the IL West with 11 games to play. Toledo sits 3.5 games back in third place and would need to jump Scranton/W-B, Norfolk and one of Indy or Columbus to snag the IL Wild Card spot. The Indians haven't been tied for first in the division this late in the season since Labor Day in 2015 (Sept. 7), when the Tribe lost at Louisville, 3-2. The defeat left Indy in a tie with Columbus and the Indians lost the season series to the Clippers that year 11-10, forcing Indy to enter the Governors' Cup Playoffs as the wild card representative while Columbus went in as division champs.

LET'S GET FAMILIAR: The Indians and Bats will play eight of their 11 remaining games against one another to close out the 2018 regular season. Indy has won seven of the first 12 meetings with Louisville, posting a 2.66 ERA and outscoring them 45-36 so far. Since the two teams last met on July 5 at Victory Field, Indy has gone 24-21 while Louisville has posted a 21-23 record.

BEEN A LONG TIME: The Tribe took the season series over Louisville last year by winning 15 of the 23 matchups, including a 7-4 mark at Louisville Slugger Field. The Indians have not won the season series over the Bats in consecutive years since a three-year stretch from 1998-2000. Indy went 11-5, 9-7 and 13-3 vs. the Bats in those three years.

ONE-RUN BALLGAMES: The Indians have lost five consecutive one-run games and are just 13-21 (.382) in one-run affairs this season, good for the lowest winning percentage in such contests among all International League teams. The Tribe are 56-39 (.589) in games decided by two or more runs.

SPARK PLUG: Pablo Reyes has hit safely in a season-high 10 consecutive games dating back to August 14 (previous high, 9: May 2-11). During his current streak, he's batting .316 (12-for-38) with one triple, five doubles, two RBI and six runs scored. He has recorded exactly one hit in eight of the 10 games. The 10-game streak is just one shy of his career high; he's had two 11-game hitting streaks, the most recent one running from May 9-23, 2017 with Double-A Altoona.

RYAN FLYIN': Ryan Lavarnway has hit safely in 21 of his last 25 games, batting .417 (35-for-84) with four homers, 10 doubles, 14 RBI and 13 runs scored dating back to July 21. He has reached base safely in 27 of his last 29 games. His 162 wRC+ is first, .922 OPS is second and .399 OBP is fourth among all IL batters with 250-plus plate appearances.

.400 TERRITORY: Jordan Luplow (.438 AVG, 14-for-32, 1 HR, 5 2B, 8 RBI, 1.173 OPS), Max Moroff (.417 AVG, 5-for-12, 1 HR, 1 RBI) and Pablo Reyes (.400 AVG, 14-for-35, 1 HR, 1 2B, 4 RBI, .947 OPS) are all batting at or above .400 against Louisville this season.

SO LONG, POWER DROUGHTS: Jose Osuna's first-inning blast off Stephen Fife last night snapped a 108-plate appearance drought without a home run for the 25-year-old. He hadn't homered since the first inning on July 22 off Charlotte's Jordan Guerrero at BB&T Ballpark. Kevin Kramer's home run that followed shortly after Osuna's shot snapped a 76-plate appearance drought without a homer. Kramer's most recent dinger before last night was in the second inning on July 31 at Columbus.

WALK THIS WAY: Max Moroff has drawn 14 walks over his last 12 games with Indy dating back to Aug. 11, tied with Rookie-level Kingsport's Shervyen Newton for the most in professional baseball since that date. Moroff leads the Indians with 38 walks in just 65 games played; Jordan Luplow (37 in 78 games) and Kevin Kramer (37 in 119 games) are tied for second. His 14.3% BB rate is sixth among IL batters with 250-plus plate appearances this season. Moroff walked 90 times for the Tribe in 2016, which is the single-season record in the Victory Field era (1996-present).

DIGGING FOR SECOND: The Indians have racked up 291 doubles through 129 games this season (2.26 doubles per game), tied with Boston for the most in all of professional baseball. The Tribe are on pace for 316 doubles and have eight players with 20-plus doubles so far this year. Indy's highest doubles count as a team since 1996 is 299, done in both 1998 and 2000. The Indians have led the IL in doubles four times previously (2017, 2013, 1998 and 1963). The Tribe are on the verge of becoming the first IL team to total 300-plus doubles in a season since 2010, when Buffalo (330), Louisville (314) and Columbus (304) all broke the 300 doubles barrier.

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