Indians Knock off Knights 3-2
Published on July 19, 2011 under International League (IL1)
Indianapolis Indians News Release
INDIANAPOLIS -- All-Star first baseman Matt Hague belted the game-winning RBI double in the bottom of the eighth, while third baseman Pedro Alvarez and designated hitter Ronny Cedeno combined for seven base knocks in support of a strong seven-inning outing from Tribe starter Rudy Owens, as the Indianapolis Indians knocked off the Charlotte Knights 3-2 on Tuesday night at Victory Field.
The victory improves Indianapolis' record to 50-48, while the loss drops Charlotte to 48-50 on the season. The win also gives the Indians a 2-0 series lead and evens their season record at Victory Field to 24-24. With a crowd of 7,529 the Indians have also now averaged 10,033 fans per game over the past 20 home games.
Tuesday night's contest entered the bottom of the eighth all square at two, before a Knights fielding error and a few clutch base knocks propelled the Tribe to victory. RF Steve Pearce led off the eighth by reaching on a Charlotte miscue, and after Alvarez roped his fourth hit of the night to push Pearce to second, Hague launched his team-leading 29th double to plate Pearce and give the Tribe a 3-2 advantage.
Indians closer Tim Wood (1.0 IP) would make the 3-2 lead stand up as he set down the Knights in order in the ninth to earn his team-best 17th save of the season. Wood closed out the win for fellow reliever Steven Jackson (1.0 IP), who turned in an inning of scoreless relief to earn the victory and improve to 2-2 on the season.
Despite not figuring in the final decision, Tribe starter Rudy Owens (7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 2 SO) pitched well enough to win, as he tossed seven strong innings and held a powerful Charlotte offensive attack to just two runs on four base hits. The seven-inning outing matched a season-best for Owens, who had lasted exactly seven frames on two other occasions this season with the most recent occurring on May 20 at Victory Field against Buffalo.
The Tribe did jump out to an early advantage with a first inning score manufactured by the rehabbing duo of Cedeno and Pearce. Cedeno began the first frame scoring rally with a single to left, before Pearce put the Tribe ahead with a clutch two-out double down the left field line.
Then after Charlotte evened the score at one with a single score in the top of the third, the Tribe re-took the lead with a tally of their own in the bottom half of the frame. Cedeno once again sparked the scoring rally, as he led off with a double to right, before Alvarez brought him plateward with a clutch two-out base knock to center.
Alvarez (4-for-4, 1 RBI) matched the Knight's offense entire hit total by going a perfect 4-for-4 on the evening, while Cedeno (3-for-4, 1 R) posted the Tribe's only other multi-hit effort with his three base knocks. For Alvarez, the four-hit night continued a recent hot streak for the left handed slugger, who has now collected at least one base hit in each of his last five games, during which time he is batting .579 (11-for-19) with three runs, two home runs and five RBI.
On the other side, SS Eduardo Escobar and DH Alejandro De Aza were the Knights' offense, as Escobar scored both Charlotte runs and De Aza collected two of the team's four total hits.
Escobar sparked both Knights' scoring rallies by drawing key walks in the third and fifth frames. The Charlotte shortstop led off the third with a base-on-balls and eventually scored on a sacrifice fly by 1B Jim Gallagher, before drawing a two-out free pass, stealing second and coming plateward on a base hit by Aza in the fifth.
De Aza also roped a key base hit in the third that pushed Escobar to third, where he would score one batter later on Gallagher's sacrifice fly. The red-hot De Aza increased his International League best hits total to 119 with his two base hits on the evening, while also improving his batting average to the second best mark in the League at .329.
Charlotte starter Dylan Axelrod (5.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO) scattered seven hits over five innings of work, but did not figure in the final decision as reliever Gregory Infante (1.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO) gave up the Tribe's unearned run in the eighth to suffer the loss and fall to 0-2 on the season.
Indianapolis now continues their four-game series with Charlotte on Wednesday afternoon at 1:05 p.m. RHP Brad Lincoln is scheduled to take the hill for the Indians, while the Knights are expected to counter with RHP Deunte Heath.
The contest will be carried on WNDE 1260 AM, WNDE.com and via iheartradio, a mobile application for iPhone, Blackberry and Android phones, while also being broadcast live on Comcast and Bright House Networks digital channel 81 with Howard Kellman and Scott McCauley on the call. The pre-game show begins at 12:45 p.m.
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Post-game quotes -- 1B Matt Hague
(on his eighth inning at-bat that ended with the game-winning double) "Branson (Indians' hitting coach Jeff Branson) said if the first two runners were on I was going to get up there, bunt and move them over, so I was prepared to bunt. But really, I got ahead in the count 2-1 and with the 3-1 he gave me the green light and I put a good swing on it."
(on what the last two wins mean for the team) "Really, it's a huge momentum swing for us. We've been playing well, even at Columbus we were playing well but we just didn't get the win. It's good for us to get a win and keep momentum going."
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