Home Runs Lead Indians to Series Win

August 8, 2021 - International League (IL)
Indianapolis Indians News Release

DES MOINES, IOWA - The Indianapolis Indians continued the home run parade with homers from Ethan Paul and Bligh Madris to outscore the Iowa Cubs and seal the series win on Sunday afternoon, 8-5.

The Indians (41-42) jumped out to an early lead in the top of the second inning as the home run streak continued with a three-run home run from Paul. Paul's first Triple-A home run gave Indy the 3-0 lead.

In the bottom half of the second inning, the I-Cubs (35-47) took one run back to cut the Indians lead to two. Indy held onto that lead until the bottom of the fourth frame when Trayce Thompson hit a grand slam over the center field wall to take the 5-3 lead.

Iowa held the lead until the eighth inning when the Indians scored five runs on four hits. Jared Oliva started the scoring after hitting an RBI single to score Marcano. Christian Bethancourt then hit a sacrifice fly to deep right field to score Cole Tucker. With one out and runners on first and third, Madris continued the scoring with a three-run home run over the right field wall to give Indy the 8-5 lead.

Matt Eckelman (W, 2-4) entered in the seventh inning and gave up one hit but held the Iowa offense scoreless to pick up his second win of the season. Tyler Bashlor and Keury Mella (S, 1) each threw one scoreless inning. Mella fanned two batters in the ninth inning to earn his first save with Indy.

Juan Gamez (L, 0-1) gave up five runs on three hits to take the loss on the mound for the I-Cubs.

The Indians return to Victory Field to face the St. Paul Saints on Tuesday night with first pitch scheduled for 7:05 PM ET. Starting pitchers have yet to be named for Indy and St. Paul.

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