IL Indianapolis Indians

Game Information: Indianapolis Indians (8-8) vs. Columbus Clippers (12-5)

Published on April 24, 2022 under International League (IL)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


LOCATION: Victory Field

FIRST PITCH: 1:35 PM ET

GAME #17 / Home #12: Indianapolis Indians (8-8) vs. Columbus Clippers (12-5)

PROBABLES: RHP Roansy Contreras (0-0, -.--) vs. RHP Tobias Myers (0-1, 6.14)

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

TV: MiLB TV / WISH-TV 8

ABOUT LAST NIGHT: The Indians notched their second walk-off win in as many homestands last night, 3-2, against Columbus. Indy opened the scoring in the bottom of the fourth inning when Mason Martin followed up a Rodolfo Castro double with his third home run of the season deep out to the right-field scoreboard. Columbus then did the same in the sixth, following a leadoff double with a two-run homer off the bat of Gabriel Arias. Still tied 2-2 in the bottom of the ninth, Clippers' outfielder Alex Call misread a long fly ball to straightaway center off the bat of Hunter Owen to open the frame and set the game-winning run on third base with no outs. On a 1-0 count, Smith-Njigba lined a fastball the opposite way against Brett Daniels (L, 1-2) to ensue an on-field celebration at Victory Field.

WALK 'EM OFF: Last night, the Indians notched their second walk-off win of the year with a ninth-inning single by Canaan Smith-Njigba. Hunter Owen led off the inning with his first triple since 6/3/19 with Double-A Altoona at Erie to score his second walk-off run in as many chances this season. Smith-Njigba followed to quickly clinch the game in the Indians' favor. Their first walk-off win of the season came on 4/8 vs. Omaha when Owen scored the game-winning run on a Travis Swaggerty single in the ninth inning. Indianapolis won 10 games in walkoff fashion last summer to tie the team's single-season high dating back to 2005 (also: 2015). Of those 10 walk-offs, Owen scored two of the game-winning runs.

WELCOME TO THE SPACE CAM: Cam Alldred made his first career start last night and tossed a career-high 4.0 innings without a run surrendered to lead the Indians to a late-inning win. He was on his pitches in the outing, throwing 33 of 48 for strikes. On 4/8 vs. Omaha, Alldred tossed 3.2 relief innings with a career-high tying five strikeouts. Three of his four outings this season have been scoreless, and he's surrendered runs in just one of his 11.1 innings pitched. Alldred was a key piece of Indy's bullpen in late 2021, surrendering just one earned run over 12.2 innings pitched in five games.

MARTIN MASHING: Mason Martin launched his third home run of the season last night, a two-run shot, to give Indianapolis the lead in the bottom of the fourth inning and hold onto his league-leader status of 12 extra-base hits. In addition to leading the league in XBH, the heavy-hitter is tied for first with three triples (also: Iowa's Ildemaro Vargas) and ranks among leaders in total bases (T-3rd, 37), slugging percentage (4th, .712), doubles (T-6th, 6) and OPS (9th, 1.051). Martin is hitting .308 (16-for-52) with 11 RBI and has recorded at least one extra-base hit in nine of his 14 games played so far this season.

TODAY: The Indians will look to tie up the series with Columbus today in the finale of the six-game set. Indianapolis currently trails, 3-2, after winning last night's contest in walk-off fashion. Last season, the Indians began the year with a 16-5 record at home and did not lose a series at Victory Field until July. The Indians faced the Clippers 11 times during the 2021 campaign and won the season series, 6-5, thanks to a 4-2 record at Victory Field that included a doubleheader sweep. Roansy Contreras will take the mound for his second career Triple-A start and his first of the 2022 campaign after beginning the season in Pittsburgh's bullpen. Tobias Myers will take the mound for the Clippers.

ROANSY DAY: Roansy Contreras, Pittsburgh's No. 4 prospect and No. 80 overall by Baseball America, will make his second career Triple-A start today vs. Columbus. The right-hander was originally promoted from Double-A Altoona to Indianapolis on 9/20 and made his Indians debut two days later at Omaha (3.2ip, 4h, 1r, 1er, 1bb, 6k). The Triple-A stint was short lived, however, and he was recalled by Pittsburgh to make his MLB debut on 9/29 vs. Chicago (NL) (3.0ip, 3h, 0r, 1bb, 4k). Contreras began the season on Indianapolis' Opening Day roster but was quickly recalled and has since made three big-league relief appearances with a 3.52 ERA (3er/7.2ip) and 10 strikeouts. On 4/14 vs. Washington, he surrendered just one hit over 3.0 shutout innings to earn his first major league win.

BEAU TO THE SHOW: Today, the Pittsburgh Pirates announced that they've selected the contract of Beau Sulser. He will be the second former Indians player to make his big-league debut this season, following Diego Castillo who cracked the Pirates' Opening Day roster, and the first of the 2022 squad. Last week at St. Paul, Sulser was solid with no earned runs allowed with 10 strikeouts over 9.0 innings. On 4/12, Sulser recorded his first career complete game (5.0ip) in a rain-shortened contest, which marked the first complete game tossed among all Triple-A teams this season. The right-hander has made 39 starts in his career and last season tossed a team-high five quality starts. In addition, he notched a team-high 20.1-inning scoreless streak from June 27-July 17 (2) spanning four appearances (three starts). He also ranked fifth among Triple-A East leaders with 122.2 innings pitched.

BACK-TO-BACK JACKS: In the bottom of the eighth inning on Thursday, Travis Swaggerty and Anthony Alford launched the Indians' first back-to-back home runs of the 2022 season. With Connor Kaiser on base, Swaggerty pulled the ball to right-center field to post the first Indianapolis runs since the two-run first inning and notch his first homer of the season. Alford followed with a long ball out to left field - his second home run in that vicinity in as many days - for his second back-to-back home run in an Indians uniform (also: 5/13/21 vs. Toledo with Christian Bethancourt). In 2021, the Indians paired up for four back-to-back home runs, their most since posting four of the feats in 2017. The team hit five back-to-back dingers in 2009, their most in a single season dating back to 2005.

THIS DATE IN 1997: After surrendering four runs in the top of the first inning vs. New Orleans and digging into a 5-0 hole at the midway point of the second, the Indians used a three-run second and four-run eighth to force extra innings. With two outs in the bottom of the 11th inning, Indianapolis plated one run to clinch the 8-7 victory. A five-RBI day from third baseman Aaron Boone and 4.1 scoreless innings from relievers Jeff Tabaka, Scott Service and Scott Sullivan led the Indians to the comeback win.

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