IL1 Indianapolis Indians

Indians Blast Mud Hens 11-5, Continue Climb in IL West

Published on August 1, 2019 under International League (IL1)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


TOLEDO, OHIO - Will Craig broke a 2-2 tie in the fifth inning with a two-run double to set up consecutive four-run frames for the Indians in an 11-5 romp over the Mud Hens on Thursday night. The Tribe recorded a season-high 18 hits, four coming off the bat of Ke'Bryan Hayes, while Kevin Kramer, Trayvon Robinson and Christian Kelley each homered in the rout.

Indianapolis (56-53) won its third straight contest, earned its sixth series sweep of the season and climbed to within 5.0 games of Columbus in the IL West race thanks to a relentless offensive attack against Mud Hens pitching. Indy's first of two four-run innings was sparked by Craig, who hooked his 18th double of the season into the left field corner to plate Jake Elmore and Hayes, and two batters later, Robinson drilled a two-run bomb over the wall in left-center to push the lead to 6-2. The long ball was Robinson's fifth this summer and first since July 1 at Louisville.

Indy hung four more runs on the board in the sixth to go up 10-2. Christian Kelley launched his fifth dinger and first away from Victory Field on the first pitch he saw from Jose Fernandez. The inning worsened for the southpaw as the Tribe sent 10 batters to the plate, notching five more hits. Cole Tucker, Hayes, Craig and Robinson logged singles, the last scoring two to make it 9-2. Jason Martin then slashed a run-scoring double down the left field line to cap the inning.

Toledo (48-62) scored the next three runs of the game, two touching home in the sixth on a Kade Scivicque triple off Tyler Lyons. Ronny Rodriguez also took Blake Weiman deep for a solo homer in the seventh that trimmed Indy's advantage to 10-5.

Hayes finished the scoring with a sacrifice fly in the ninth. Indy went 7-for-16 with runners in scoring position.

The Indians plated the game's first run on Kramer's third homer in as many days, a solo drive to deep right-center in the second that was his ninth of the year. The lead was doubled to 2-0 on consecutive one-out doubles by Elmore and Hayes in the third, but the Mud Hens drew even in the home half as Dawel Lugo tripled home a run before racing home on a two-out drag bunt single by Jacob Robson.

Steven Brault made his first start for the Tribe since his 2017 International League Most Valuable Pitcher campaign. The rehabbing lefty yielded two runs on three hits with five walks and two strikeouts in four innings of work.

Tribe reliever Parker Markel (W, 1-0) fanned three over two shutout innings to complete the victory. Ryan Carpenter (L, 5-7) surrendered six runs and 11 hits with four punchouts in five innings pitched to suffer the loss.

Hayes' four-hit performance was the sixth of his career and first since Sept. 2, 2018 with Double-A Altoona at Bowie. Elmore, Robinson and Martin finished with three-hit games while Craig had two hits. Indy's previous high for hits in a game was 16 on April 13 vs. Charlotte.

The Indians return to Victory Field on Friday for a three-game showdown with first-place Columbus. First pitch is set for 7:15 p.m. ET. Mitch Keller (7-4, 3.41) will start the series opener against Michael Peoples (7-5, 4.67).

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