IL1 Indianapolis Indians

Indianapolis Shuts out Syracuse 2-0

August 20, 2012 - International League (IL1)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


SYRACUSE, N.Y. --After projected starter Kyle McPherson was recalled by Pittsburgh earlier in the day, left hander Kris Johnson came to the rescue, allowing just two hits over 5.1 scoreless innings of a victorious spot start for the Indianapolis Indians, who went on to shut out the Syracuse Chiefs 2-0 on Monday night at Alliance Bank Stadium.

Johnson (5.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO), who returned to the Tribe after going 1-2 with a 3.65 ERA across five appearances (four starts) with Double-A Altoona, was making his first appearance for Indianapolis since starting game two of a doubleheader on July 21 in Toledo. The southpaw delivered in a big way, surrendering just two singles and no walks over 5.1 innings to earn the victory and improve to 5-2 on the season.

Following Johnson, reliever Bryan Morris (2.2 IP, 1 H, 4 SO) also turned in a dominant performance allowing just a single base knock while striking out four over 2.2 scoreless innings of relief. Morris has now allowed just two hits while striking out seven over his last 4.2 innings of work out of the Indianapolis bullpen.

Morris would give way to Tribe closer Tim Wood (1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 2 SO) who would nail down the Tribe victory with his 19th save of the season. The Chiefs would make things interesting against Wood putting runners on second and third with just one out, but Wood would strike out the final two batters to finish out the victory.

With Johnson and company shutting down Syracuse, the Indians got all the offense they would need on one swing of the bat in the top of the second inning. 1B Jeff Clement, who had not connected on a homer for the Tribe since July 31st, led of the second with a solo blast to center field for his team-leading 16th longball of the season to put the Tribe ahead 1-0.

LF Brandon Boggs would keep things rolling for the Tribe as he followed Clement's homer with a triple, before speeding home when C Tony Sanchez lifted a sacrifice fly to left to extend the Indians' advantage to 2-0. The three-bagger was Boggs' fifth of the season and gave the Indians 43 triples on the season, which at the time were 15 more than any other team in the International League.

Despite suffering the loss, Syracuse also got excellent work from their pitching staff, which surrendered only the Tribe's two second inning scores. Starter Jeff Mandel (6.0 IP 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 2 SO) managed to allow just those two scores while scattering eight hits over six innings, but was outdueled by Johnson and suffered the loss to fall to 4-5 on the season.

Following Mandel, Chiefs relievers Erik Arnesen (0.2 IP, 2 BB, 1 SO), Atahualpa Severino (1.1 IP) and Mike MacDougal (1.0 IP, 1 H, 2 BB, 1 SO) combined for three scoreless innings of relief out of the Syracuse bullpen.

One batter that no one was able to stop was Tribe 2B Brock Holt, who collected a single and two doubles on Monday night to give him 22 hits and an unbelievable .423 batting average over his first 13 Triple-A games. The three base knocks also extended Holt's current team-best hitting streak to nine games during which he is batting a ridiculous .500 (19-for-38) with three doubles and four RBI.

With the victory the Indians improved to 77-53 on the season and lowered their magic number for a West Division Championship to five. The Tribe was only able to lower their magic number by one as second place Columbus clobbered the Bats 10-1 in Louisville.

Indianapolis will now look to earn the series victory over Syracuse in the finale set for 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday night. In search of his team-leading 12th win of the season the Indians are expected to send RHP Rick VandenHurk to the mound, while the Chiefs are scheduled to counter with RHP Tanner Roark.

The game will be carried on WNDE 1260 AM-WFBQ-HD2, WNDE.com and via iheartradio, a mobile application for iPhone, Blackberry and Android phones with Howard Kellman and Will Flemming on the call. The pre-game show begins at 6:40 p.m.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Post-game quotes -- 1B Jeff Clement

(on starter Kris Johnson) "He did a great job for us. We know what to expect with him coming back up. He has got really good stuff and when he pitches ahead of guys, he really get's alot of outs. What did he give up two hits? He threw the ball really well."

(on possibly being able to clinch a playoff birth at home) "We will see how all that goes. We just want to play good baseball. We haven't played really good baseball lately. We know if we play the way we are capable of were going to be in."

(on the red-hot start of 2B Brock Holt) "From what I understand he has done it at every level. The guy can flat out hit. He plays a solid second place and has been playing some short for us as well. He's a competitor. He's obviously the smallest guy on the field, but it doesn't matter. He's able to square the ball up plenty and find holes. He's got a great swing."

(on returning to Indianapolis after a long road trip) "I don't think their is a single guy that doesn't like playing in Indianapolis. It's a great city and we are excited to be getting back."

Check out the Indianapolis Indians Statistics



International League Stories from August 20, 2012


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