IL Indianapolis Indians

Game Information: Indianapolis Indians (9-8) at Iowa Cubs (9-8)

Published on April 26, 2022 under International League (IL)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


LOCATION: Principal Park

FIRST PITCH: 7:38 PM ET

GAME #18 / Road #6: Indianapolis Indians (9-8) at Iowa Cubs (9-8)

PROBABLES: RHP Osvaldo Bido (0-1, 3.97) vs. RHP Adrian Sampson (0-1, 4.09)

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

TV: MiLB TV

ABOUT SUNDAY: Oneil Cruz launched a two-run home run in the bottom of the 11th inning on Sunday afternoon to give the Indians their second walk-off win in as many games vs. Columbus, 8-7. With Columbus out to an early 1-0 lead after a first-inning home run, the Indians took the lead in the third inning when, with the bases loaded and two outs, Mason Martin roped a two-run double. Four more lead-changes were scattered throughout the final five frames of the contest. In the seventh inning, a two-run, go-ahead home run off the bat of Richie Palacios was quickly countered by a three-run shot off the bat of Hoy Park. Another home run - the Clippers' third of the day - off the bat of Alex Call tied the game at 5-5 in the top of the ninth. With the Indians facing a 7-5 deficit in the bottom of the 11th, Bligh Madris scored on a one-out single by Josh Bissonette before Cruz went yard for the first time this season to win the game.

#13 PROSPECT, #1 BAT FLIP: Pittsburgh's No. 1 prospect and No. 13 overall rated by Baseball America, Oneil Cruz, called game in walk-off fashion yesterday with his first home run of 2022, a 112-mph, 430-ft no-doubter out to right field. He didn't stand to watch the ball, turning his back to right-field and throwing the bat javelin-style toward the home dugout before taking his trot around the bases. The long ball was his first in 14 games with Indianapolis this season, and his sixth home run in 20 career Triple-A games. Last season, Cruz homered in five of his six games with the Indians, including a stretch in which he became the first Indians batter since Adam Boeve in 2008 to homer in four consecutive games. The hard-hitting lefty also homered once with Pittsburgh in his final two games of the 2021 campaign.

COMEBACK CITY: The Indians trailed Columbus three different times on Sunday afternoon to record their fifth comeback win of the season and their first walk-off hit when trailing a team in their final offensive inning. They entered the ninth inning down, 7-5, before cutting the deficit to one run on an RBI single by Josh Bissonette. Oneil Cruz then capped off the comeback effort with his dinger to walk-off the game. In 2021, three of the Indians' 10 walk-off hits came when facing a deficit.

ANOTHER ONE: The Indians won their second consecutive game and third of the season in walk-off fashion yesterday on Oneil Cruz's two-run homer in the 11th inning. On Saturday night, Canaan Smith-Njigba roped a tie-breaking single into left field to score Hunter Owen from third base and walk-off the Clippers. It was the 12th time in Victory Field history that the Indians have recorded walk-off wins on consecutive days, the last coming on 6/30-7/1/21 vs. Iowa - both hits of which came off the bat of Christian Bethancourt. Only once in the past 26 years have the Indians had back-to-back walk-offs twice in a season, coming on 6/8-9/13 and 8/8-9/13.

BISSONETTE'S BIG DAY: Josh Bissonette tied his career high with three hits on Sunday afternoon vs. Columbus. His final hit of the day came in the 11th inning when he singled home Bligh Madris to cut the Clippers' lead to one run, and he then scored the game-tying run on Oneil Cruz's walk-off home run. He owns six three-hit games, the last coming on 7/16/21 with Double-A Altoona vs. Binghamton. It was his second consecutive multi-hit game with Indianapolis after going 2-for-4 with two RBI on 4/16 at St. Paul.

ROANSY DAY: Roansy Contreras, Pittsburgh's No. 4 prospect and No. 80 overall by Baseball America, made his second Triple-A start on Sunday afternoon vs. Columbus and struck out five batters in 3.1 innings pitched. He surrendered one run on a first-inning home run, but later fanned back-to-back batters to strand the bases loaded. 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.

MARTIN MASHING: Mason Martin has been an extra-base hit machine so far this season and currently is tied with Moises Gomez of Double-A Springfield for the most extra-base hits (13) in all of Minor League Baseball. He has recorded at least one extra-base hit in 10 of his 15 games played, including a home run on Saturday and double on Sunday. In addition to leading the International League in XBH, the heavy-hitter ranks among qualifiers in triples (2nd, 3), slugging percentage (3rd, .702), total bases (3rd, 40), doubles (T-4th, 7) and OPS (T-8th, 1.046). Martin is hitting .316 (18-for-57) with three home runs and 13 RBI this season.

TONIGHT: The Indians begin a six-game road trip at Iowa tonight at 7:38 PM ET. The Indians and I-Cubs faced off 24 times in 2021 and went 11-13 with a 6-6 record at Principal Park. Osvaldo Bido will take the mound for the Indians in his second career start vs. the I-Cubs. Countering is Adrian Sampson, who went 2-1 with a 5.94 ERA (11er/16.2ip) in three starts against Indianapolis in 2021.

AUGUST 6-8, 2021 AT IOWA: The Indians combined for 13 home runs in three games from 8/6-8/21 at Iowa to set a Victory Field record for homers in that time span. The Indians began the streak with six home runs on 8/6, their most since tying a Victory Field era high with seven home runs on 7/6/17 at Columbus. They followed with five home runs on Saturday night, marking the highest number of home runs in back-to-back games for the team dating back to 1996 when Victory Field opened. Eight different Indians batters launched home runs, with Anthony Alford, Hunter Owen, Cole Tucker, Michael Chavis and Bligh Madris each hitting two in the three-game span. Of Indianapolis' 33 runs scored in those 27 innings of baseball, 21 came via the long ball.

THIS DATE IN 2016: Indianapolis' Opening Day starter Tyler Glasnow tossed 6.0 scoreless innings with 11 strikeouts - his first 10-plus strikeout game of nine in an Indians uniform - to earn his first win of the season in a 9-0 shutout at Durham. The two hits allowed by Glasnow were the only Bulls hits of the game, with the Indy bullpen combining for three hitless innings to close out the game. The Indians were leading 2-0 going into the top of the ninth inning and put up a seven-spot in their final frame on four home runs to finish off the Bulls, the second time Indy had belted four home runs in an inning in the Victory Field era.

Check out the Indianapolis Indians Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



International League Stories from April 26, 2022


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central