IL1 Indianapolis Indians

Indians Knock out Norfolk 4-2

Published on June 17, 2013 under International League (IL1)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


NORFOLK, Va. -- Making his Triple-A debut, starter Stolmy Pimentel struck out seven and allowed just one unearned run over six innings, while designated hitter Ivan DeJesus and catcher Tony Sanchez each blasted late inning homers to lift the Indianapolis Indians (47-25) over the Norfolk Tides (38-33) 4-2 on Monday night at Harbor Park.

23-year-old Stolmy Pimentel, who was acquired by the Pirates from Boston as part of the Joel Hanrahan trade, made quite an impression in his Triple-A debut with Indianapolis on Monday night in Norfolk. The native of the Dominican Republic, struck out seven and allowed just one unearned run on five hits and two walks over 6.0 scoreless innings.

Despite the dominating performance Pimentel did not figure in the final decision, but still continued a string of impressive outings as over his last three starts, including two with Double-A Altoona, the hard throwing right hander has now struck out 19 and allowed just three earned runs over 19.0 IP (1.42 ERA). It was also the 11th time in 14 starts overall this season, that Pimentel has gone at least six innings into a contest.

Pimentel was unable to come away with victory because he was matched with an equally strong effort from Tides LHP Tsuyoshi Wada (6.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 8 SO), who struck out a season-high eight and allowed just one run over 6.2 innings. This bounce back performance came just one start after the southpaw surrendered eight runs on six hits in just 1.1 innings in a loss to the Indians at Victory Field on June 11.

Both Pimentel and Wada kept the teams off the board until the sixth inning, when 2B Josh Harrison began the games first scoring rally with a one out base hit to center. Then after moving up to second on a groundout by SS Chase d'Arnaud, Harrison was brought home with 1B Matt Hague came through with a clutch two-out base hit to right.

After the Indians took a 1-0 lead in the top half of the sixth, the Tides quickly answered with a run of their own in the bottom half of the frame. RF L. J. Hoes continued to haunt Tribe pitching as he led off the bottom of the sixth with a double, and after a throwing error on a pick off attempt allowed him to move to third, sped home on a sacrifice fly off the bat of 2B Buck Britton.

The game remained knotted at 1-1 until the top of the eighth when DH Ivan DeJesus broke the tie by launching a one out solo home run to left. The longball which gave the Tribe a 2-1 advantage was the third on the season for DeJesus and his first June 2.

Another powerful stroke gave the Indians some important insurance, as after Hague led off the top of the ninth with a line drive base hit to center, C Tony Sanchez smashed a two-run shot to left to extend the Tribe lead to 4-1. The longball for Sanchez was his ninth on the season and one of two hits on the evening for the Tribe backstop. With his effort on Monday night, Sanchez has now scored a run in five straight games and collected at least one hit in six consecutive contests.

Sanchez's blast proved to be key as Norfolk mounted a comeback attempt in the ninth, bringing the potential winning run to the plate following an RBI sacrifice fly from DH Brandon Wood. However, Tribe closer Duke Welker (1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO) closed the door on the Tribe victory with a strikeout of former Indians INF Yamaico Navarro to earn his third save of the season.

RHP Erik Cordier (2.0 IP, 4 SO) continued his dominant work out of the Tribe bullpen, striking out four over two perfect innings to earn the win and improve to 2-0 on the season. The flame-throwing Indians reliever has now not allowed an earned run and struck out 16 over his last 13.2 innings pitched.

On the other side, former Indians' hurler Mark Hendrickson (2.1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, SO) served up both of the Tribe's late frame homers and was pinned with the loss to fall to 0-2 on the season.

The Indians and Tides will now continue their four-game series in Norfolk on Tuesday night at 7:05 p.m. RHP Jeanmar Gomez (0-0, 3.00 ERA) is expected to make his second rehab start for the Indians, while the Tides are scheduled to send top prospect RHP Kevin Gausman (NR) to the mound.

The game will be carried on WNDE 1260 AM, 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 6:45 p.m.

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Post-game quotes -- DH Ivan DeJesus

(on what he was thinking before he smashed the go-ahead solo homer in the 8th)

"Nothing. I just wanted to put the ball in play and get on base and try and create some runs. I got lucky and got the pitch I was looking for and I squared the ball. The wind helped a little bit, but I hit the ball good."

(on the bounce back win after dropping the series in Durham)

"Durham and Norfolk are two teams that have been playing really hard with us this year. We just have got to keep going and doing what we do, play hard and try to get some wins. That's what we did today."

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