IL Indianapolis Indians

Game Information: Toledo Mud Hens (19-16) vs. Indianapolis Indians (18-17)

May 18, 2022 - International League (IL)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


LOCATION: Victory Field

FIRST PITCH: 1:35 PM ET

GAME #36 / Home #19: Toledo Mud Hens (19-16) vs. Indianapolis Indians (18-17)

PROBABLES: RHP Matt Manning (0-0, 1.35) vs. RHP Roansy Contreras (0-0, 2.45)

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

TV: MiLB TV

ABOUT LAST NIGHT - THE OFFENSE: Following a leadoff double off the bat of Mason Martin in the second inning, Cal Mitchell roped his first of two RBI singles to plate the first Indianapolis run. Three consecutive two-out singles in the third inning by Ji-Hwan Bae, Martin and Mitchell extended the Indians lead, 3-0. Indianapolis opened the floodgates in the eighth inning thanks to free passes by the Mud Hens pitching staff. A wild pitch, two passed balls, three walks and a timely Carter Bins two-run single plated four and extended the Indians' lead, 7-0. Bae, Martin, Mitchell and Bins all registered two-hit performances in the contest. Mitchell led the offense with three RBI, and Bins followed with two off his RBI single in the eighth.

ABOUT LAST NIGHT - THE SHUTOUT: The Indians pitching staffed combined for 12 strikeouts and a two-hit shutout of the Mud Hens to begin a six-game homestand on Tuesday night, 7-0. The Indians surrendered doubles in the fifth and eighth innings for the only Toledo hits on the night. It was their third shutout this season and first since taking a no-no into the ninth inning on April 26 at Iowa. After Osvaldo Bido opened the game in the first inning, Cody Bolton entered in the second and fanned six batters through 4.0 one-hit innings to earn the win. Cam Vieaux, Hunter Stratton and Yerry De Los Santos then combined for five strikeouts in the final four frames.

A GREAT VIEAUX: Cam Vieaux continued his dominant streak last night, setting down all three of his batters faced in the sixth inning on just eight pitches (seven strikes). He is currently working a 12.0-inning streak dating back to 4/26 at Iowa without surrendering an earned run. In his last six appearances, Vieaux is 3-0 with a 0.33 WHIP and .054 average against (2-for-37) with two walks and seven strikeouts. He has surrendered just three earned runs this season across two of his nine appearances and owns a 1.53 ERA (17.2ip), 0.74 WHIP and .119 average against (7-for-59). He has not allowed a hit in his last three appearances (4.2ip).

STRATTON'S STRIKEOUTS: Hunter Stratton fanned four batters in 2.0 innings last night, tying his season high (also: 4/7 (1) vs. Omaha) and extending his strikeout total on the season to an International League leading 28 among relief pitchers. He has struck out multiple batters in 10 of his 12 appearances. The right-hander is also working a solid streak without allowing an earned run, allowing just four hits with one unearned run in six May appearances (8.0ip).

MARTIN MASHING: After a slow start to the month of May, Mason Martin has now recorded an extra-base hit in each of his last three games and has 20 on the season, which is the third-most among all Triple-A players this season. He has registered a .400 batting average (6-for-15) in his last four games after going just 2-for-30 in his first eight games in May. 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 led the Indians offense with three runs driven in last night, extending his total to 11 RBI in his past seven games. Since 5/7, Mitchell has driven in at least one run in six of seven games played and is tied for second among all Triple-A batters in total RBI for that span (following Durham's Josh Lowe, 12). He has hit safely in nine of 11 games played in May - five of which have been two-hit performances - good for a .298 average (14-for-47) 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: With a double last night, Canaan Smith-Njigba extended his on-base streak to 19 games for the longest in the International League this season. Since 4/22 vs. Columbus, the beginning of his on-base streak, he has almost taken as many walks (17) as strikeouts (19) with a .422 on-base percentage. During that time, he is hitting .273 (18-for-66) with six 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.

BAE ON BASE: Along with Canaan Smith-Njigba's active on-base streak, Ji-Hwan Bae is currently working a 16-game on-base streak for the fourth-longest active streak in the International League. Dating back to 4/27 at Iowa, Bae is hitting .339 (21-for-62) with eight extra-base hits, 10 RBI and 13 walks to only nine strikeouts. Bae provides speed on the basepaths, and he has swiped five bases with only one caught stealing in his past 16 games.

TODAY: The Indians will look to build on an early lead in a six-game series with their long-time International League rival, the Toledo Mud Hens, today at 1:35 PM ET at Victory Field. The Indians and Mud Hens are no strangers to each other, facing off every year since 1998. In that time, the Indians have lost only five 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. RHP Roansy Contreras will take the bump for the Indians today in his fifth Triple-A start this season after surrendering three earned runs in 4.1 innings on 5/13 at Charlotte. Countering for the Mud Hens is rehabber Matt Manning, who registered an 8.59 ERA (7er/7.1ip) in two starts at Victory Field in 2021.

THIS DATE IN 2005: Starting pitcher Zach Duke took a one-hit shutout into the ninth inning at Pawtucket's McCoy Stadium until back-to-back doubles ended his day. Duke's final line was still impressive, as he yielded only one earned run on three hits and one walk with five strikeouts over 8.1 innings pitched in a 3-1 triumph. The victory was Duke's seventh of a team-leading 12 wins on the season, and his 3.32 ERA at the time would drop to a team-best 2.92 mark by the end of the season.

Check out the Indianapolis Indians Statistics



International League Stories from May 18, 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