IL1 Indianapolis Indians

Indians and Braves Split

August 1, 2007 - International League (IL1)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


RICHMOND, Va. -- Right-hander John Van Benschoten fired six scoreless innings to help Indianapolis post a 7-1 victory over Richmond in game two of Wednesday night's doubleheader at The Diamond. The Braves pounded out 16 hits in the opener en route to an 11-1 win over the Indians.

Indianapolis moves to 56-55 overall and 24-30 on the road, while Richmond is now 61-49 on the season and 28-24 at home. Thursday will be the Tribe's 255th consecutive day with a record of .500 or better.

Van Benschoten (6.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 3 SO) improved to 7-4 with the win in his return to the Triple-A level. The 27-year-old was optioned back to Indianapolis on Tuesday after making seven starts for Pittsburgh from June 16-July 27.

1B Steven Pearce put the Indians on the scoreboard by crushing his first Triple-A homer -- a solo blast to left -- in the fourth. The 24-year-old, who added an RBI single in the Tribe's four-run fifth, now leads all Minor Leaguers with 98 RBI on the season.

Indianapolis took advantage of two free passes and two errors to open up a five-run lead in the fifth. The Tribe then added two insurance runs in the seventh -- one on 2B Luis Ordaz's RBI single and the other on C David Parrish's RBI groundout.

Pearce (2-for-4, 2 R, 2 RBI), Ordaz (2-for-4, 1 RBI) and 3B Russ Johnson (2-for-2, 1 R, 1 RBI) all notched multi-hit games for the Indians in game two.

Braves RHP Brad Nelson (5.0 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 4 SO) fell to 1-1 with the loss.

Richmond scored in all six at-bats and collected 16 base knocks for the game-one victory.

SS Brent Lillibridge (3-for-3, 2 R, 3 RBI), 3B Wes Timmons (2-for-3, 2 R, 3 RBI), CF Pete Orr (3-for-4, 2 R), LF Brandon Jones (2-for-3, 1 R, 2 RBI), 1B Brayan Pena (2-for-4, 1 RBI) and RF Doug Clark (2-for-4, 2 R) all recorded multi-hit efforts for the home team.

Orr led off the first with a triple to center and scored on a sacrifice fly. 2B Martin Prado was then hit by a pitch and eventually came plateward on Lillibridge's infield single, while Clark and Lillibridge trotted home moments later on Timmons' two-run double to left.

Richmond scored each inning thereafter to win the contest by double digits.

Braves RHP Kevin Barry (6.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 SO) improved to 5-6 with the game one win, while Indians RHP Runelvys Hernandez (4.0 IP, 13 H, 9 R, 8 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO) fell to 1-7 with the loss.

The teams return to The Diamond on Thursday at 7 p.m., for game three of the four-game series. LHP Michael Tejera is scheduled to start for Indianapolis, while Richmond has yet to announce a starter.

The contest will be carried by ESPN-950 AM and IndyIndians.com with Howard Kellman and Scott McCauley. The pre-game show begins at 6:40 p.m.

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International League Stories from August 1, 2007


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