IL1 Indianapolis Indians

Indians Blank IronPigs 4-0

May 9, 2012 - International League (IL1)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


INDIANAPOLIS -- Indianapolis center fielder Gorkys Hernandez broke a scoreless tie with his second home run in as many days and shortstop Chase d'Arnaud did a little bit of everything offensively in his second game back from the disabled list as the Indians earned their fifth straight win with a 5-0 victory over the Lehigh Valley IronPigs on Wednesday afternoon at Victory Field.

Indians starter Justin Wilson, battled through a 26-pitch first inning, but went on to hold Lehigh Valley to just three hits and one walk in six strong innings. The lefty (6.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K) recorded six strikeouts en route to earning his third win of the season, at one point retiring 12 straight IronPigs.

The teams battled to a scoreless tie until the Indians took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the fifth inning. After going 0-for-10 to start the season -- a stretch that included considerable time recovering from a concussion suffered in the second game of the season -- d'Arnaud picked up a one-out single and promptly stole second base for his first steal of the season.

With d'Arnaud on second, Gorkys Hernandez worked a 1-1 count before stepping out of the box and flipping his sunglasses to the bat boy. Although the sun was going in-and-out of the clouds all day, it proved to be a good decision when, three pitches later, Gorkys Hernandez launched an opposite-field home run over the right-center-field wall.

The two-run homer, which gave the Tribe a 2-0 lead was his second in as many days and second of the season. It was the first time the outfielder hit home runs on back-to-back days since July 3 and 4, 2007, with the Class-A Western Michigan Whitecaps in the Detroit Tigers organization.

Indianapolis added a trio of insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, when 3B Jordy Mercer and RF Brandon Boggs led off with back-to-back singles. After a sacrifice bunt by C Jose Morales moved runners to second and third, 2B Anderson Hernandez looped a single down the right field line, scoring Mercer and putting runners on the corners with a 3-0 lead.

Batting in place of Wilson, PH Brian Friday then drew a walk to load the bases before d'Arnaud smacked his second single of the game, a two-run base knock that gave the Indians their final 5-0 lead. It was d'Arnaud's first multiple-RBI game for the Indians since June 18 of last season.

Settling into a new role that seems to be working well for him, closer-turned-middle-reliever Tim Wood (1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K) allowed a lone hit and struck out one batter in an inning of scoreless relief. Fellow RHP Bryan Morris (2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K) closed out the victory, holding the IronPigs scoreless in both the eighth and ninth innings.

Lehigh Valley starter Pat Misch (5.1 IP, 9 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 5 SO) allowed all five Tribe runs on nine hits and was pinned with the loss to fall to 1-5 on the season. After Misch, IronPigs relievers Jeremy Horst (1.2 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 1 SO) and Jake Diekman (1.0 IP) combined for 2.2 innings of scoreless relief.

The win gives the Indians their second five-game winning streak of the season and improves the Tribe's record to 19-13. Meanwhile, Lehigh Valley fell to 17-15 on the season. The teams wrap up their four-game series bright and early on Thursday, with the first pitch slated for 11:05 a.m. Looking for the sweep, Indianapolis will likely send Jeff Locke, a fourth-straight southpaw, to the mound with a 3-1 record and 2.31 ERA. Lehigh Valley is expected to counter with RHP Tyler Cloyd (2-0, 0.69).

The contest will be televised on HTSN (Hometown Sports and News), available via cable or over-the-air on digital channel 6.2. The game will also be carried on 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 10:45 a.m.

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Post-game quotes -- CF Gorkys Hernandez

(On the team's defense of late) "This week, we've done a pretty good job. The pitching has done a great, great job and that's how we can keep doing. We try the same thing today and we'll try the next day to do the same thing and keep it going.

(On the five-game winning streak) "We try to do the best we can. We have to keep going these next games and see what happens."

(On the chance of sweeping Lehigh Valley in Thursday's game) "We'll go tomorrow and we'll see what happens in the game and we'll try to win again."

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