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IL Indianapolis Indians

Game Information: Toledo Mud Hens (19-15) vs. Indianapolis Indians (17-17)

May 17, 2022 - International League (IL)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


LOCATION: Victory Field

FIRST PITCH: 6:35 PM ET

GAME #35 / Home #18: Toledo Mud Hens (19-15) vs. Indianapolis Indians (17-17)

PROBABLES: LHP Joey Wentz (0-1, 4.12) vs, RHP Osvaldo Bido (0-2, 3.91)

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

TV: MiLB TV

ABOUT SUNDAY: Led by Oneil Cruz and Jason Delay, the Indians tallied 15 hits en route to an 11-5 comeback victory over the Knights on Sunday afternoon to split the six-game series, 3-3. Down 2-0 after the first inning and 5-3 after the second, Indianapolis put up eight unanswered runs to avoid their second consecutive series loss to sub-.500 teams. The Indians put up solo runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth runs off a sacrifice bunt by Josh Bissonette, Mason Martin solo homer and sacrifice fly by Ji-Hwan Bae, respectively, to take the lead. They then erupted for four runs in the eighth inning, leading off the frame by hitting for the cycle in their first four consecutive at-bats (Jason Delay double, Josh Bissonette single, Oneil Cruz three-run homer and Ji-Hwan Bae triple). Jason Delay traded places with Hoy Park following a leadoff double in the ninth inning to score Indy's final insurance run of the afternoon.

CRUZING: Oneil Cruz led the Indians offense with a career-high five RBI in Sunday's win over Charlotte. He drove in two runs with a single in the top of the second inning and capped the day with a three-run home run - his third long ball of the year - in the Indians' four-run eighth inning. It was Cruz's second four-plus RBI game in May after he went 2-for-4 with a home run and four RBI on 5/7 vs. Louisville. His 12 total RBI in May is tied for the seventh-most in the International League for the month. In addition to flashing his power, Cruz also flashed his ability to hit the ball hard this week at Charlotte. On Thursday night, he smoked a 121.7-MPH line drive single up the middle for the hardest hit ball measured in Triple-A this season. There have only been three batted balls hit as hard in the Statcast era, all off the bat Giancarlo Stanton.

DELAY DISHING: Jason Delay went 4-for-5 with two runs scored, two doubles and two RBI on Sunday to mark his third career four-hit game and his first since 5/19/19 with Double-A Altoona vs. Harrisburg. It was his first game with two extra-base hits since 8/21/19 vs. Double-A Hartford when he set a career high with two home runs and five RBI. After recording no extra-base hits in 11 April games, four of Delay's seven hits in five May games have come for extra bases. He is currently hitting .368 (7-for-19) with a .632 slugging percentage and 1.061 OPS this month.

MARTIN MASHING: After a slow start to the month of May, Mason Martin has now hit safely in each of his last three games with two extra-base hits. He has 19 total XBH this season, which is tied for the third-most among all Triple-A players. On Sunday at Charlotte, he launched his fifth home run of the season, a game-tying solo shot in the fifth inning. Martin was named the Indians Player of the Month in April after ranking third in all of professional baseball with 16 extra-base hits. He also ranked among International League leaders in doubles (T-5th, eight), total bases (6th, 51), slugging percentage (6th, .671) and OPS (9th, 1.020) in April.

CAL CAN DRIVE 'EM IN: Cal Mitchell drove in a run last night for his eighth RBI in his past six games. On Friday at Charlotte, he launched a pair of two-run home runs for his third consecutive two-hit game and just his second career multi-home run game (also: 6/30/21 vs. Double-A Hartford). He drove in four RBI in that performance, tying his season high (also: 4/16 at St. Paul). He has hit safely in eight of 10 games played in May - four of which were two-hit performances - good for a .279 average (12-for-43) in the month. Overall this season, he leads the team with a .294 batting average and .875 OPS. He is also tied with Ji-Hwan Bae for the most hits by an Indians batter (30).

CANAAN CONTINUES: Canaan Smith-Njigba's 18-game on-base streak is currently the longest active streak among all International League players and is tied for the longest in the league this season. Since 4/22 vs. Columbus, the beginning of his on-base streak, he has almost taken as many walks (16) as strikeouts (19) with a .418 on-base percentage. During that time, he is hitting .270 (17-for-63) with five extra-base hits. That comes in stark contrast to the beginning of his season, when he hit .196 (10-for-51) with just four walks to 17 strikeouts in his first 14 games.

TONIGHT: The Indians begin a six-game series with their long-time International League rival, the Toledo Mud Hens, tonight at 6:35 PM ET at Victory Field. The Indians and Mud Hens are no strangers to each other, facing off every year consistently since 1998. In that time, the Indians have lost only six season series against Toledo, the last coming in 2014 (10-11). In 2021, the Indians went 7-5 vs. the Mud Hens at Victory Field but finished the year with a 9-9 record against the familiar foe. To open the season series tonight, Osvaldo Bido will take the mound in an opening role for Cody Bolton. For the Mud Hens, Joey Wentz will make his sixth start of the season after earning his first Triple-A loss on 5/4 vs. Worcester.

HELLO, NEWMAN: The Pirates announced today that shortstop and Indians 2018 Team MVP Kevin Newman will begin a major league rehab assignment tonight at Victory Field. He was placed on the 10-day injured list with a left groin strain on April 27 after hitting .250 (12-for-48) with five extra-base hits and eight RBI in 14 games with Pittsburgh. He made his MLB debut with Pittsburgh in 2018 after hitting .302 (132-for-437) with 74 runs scored and 30 doubles in 109 games for Indy that season. On Aug. 7, 2018 vs. Lehigh Valley, Newman completed the first of two cycles (also: Jacob Stallings) in the eighth inning in a span of four at-bats. His cycle was the fifth by an Indians batter since 1996 and the first to occur at Victory Field since Jeff Clement in 2012. The shortstop last appeared at Victory Field in 2019 on a rehab assignment. In his career, he has appeared in 157 games with the Indians and owns a .294 batting average (186-for-633) with 102 runs scored, 43 doubles and 35 stolen bases.

THIS DATE IN 1946: Paul "Duke" Derringer tossed a four-hit shutout vs. Kansas City as Indianapolis earned a 7-0 win in seven innings. He also led the offense with two singles and two RBI. Derringer's 15-year major league career ended in 1945 as a 223-game winner with the Cardinals, Reds and Cubs.

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