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IL1 Indianapolis Indians

Indians Locke Down 6-0 Win over Buffalo

July 28, 2012 - International League (IL1)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


INDIANAPOLIS -- Tribe starter Jeff Locke tossed seven scoreless innings to earn his eighth victory of the season while the Indians got all the offense they would need with a four-run second inning rally as they went on to take the series opener over the Buffalo Bisons 6-0 in front of 13,427 fans on Saturday night at Victory Field.

Locke (7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 4 SO) battled through early control problems to turn in seven spectacular innings of work, allowing just four hits and three walks while striking out four to earn the victory and improve to 8-5 on the season. With his four punchouts, Locke now has 103 on the season, marking the third straight season that the southpaw has collected over 100 strikeouts.

Locke would get all the support he would need in the second-inning when the Tribe offense broke out for four runs on five hits. C Tony Sanchez sparked the rally with a leadoff double, coming around quickly to score when RF Brandon Boggs lined a single to right to give the Indians a 1-0 advantage.

LF Jeff Larish and 2B Anderson Hernandez then came through with back-to-back base hits with Hernandez's base knock bringing home Boggs to extend the lead to 2-0. A wild pitch would advance Larish and Hernandez to second and third to set the stage for SS Chase d'Arnaud, who would cap the rally with a two-run single to center.

The Indians offense was not finished with their early-inning outburst as they tacked on another tally on the back of Boggs in the third. The Tribe right fielder began the rally with a one-out double, before stealing second and coming plateward on a groundout by Larish.

Sanchez would then tie a bow on the victory with the game's big blast in the fifth. With one out in the frame, the Tribe catcher battled to a full count before blasting the ball over the right-field fence for his sixth homer of the season, all of which have come in the month of July.

Sanchez (2-for-4, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 1 RBI), Boggs (3-for-4, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 SB) and d'Arnaud (3-for-5, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 3 SB) turned in excellent efforts for the Tribe. All three posted multi-hit efforts, drove in at least one run and collected at least one extra-base hit.

d'Arnaud also blazed a trail on the basepaths, swiping a season-high three bases to increase his total to 29 on the season, which currently ranks second in the International League.

While the Tribe's terrific trio led the way offensively, no Buffalo batter collected multiple base knocks as Locke and relievers Daniel McCutchen (1.0 IP, 2 SO) and Doug Slaten (1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 SO) combined for the Indians 11th shutout of the season. McCutchen (1.0 IP, 2 SO) struck out two over a scoreless frame of work, while Slaten (1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 SO) allowed just a hit in a single frame of work and has now not allowed an earned run over his last 25 appearances out of the Indianapolis bullpen.

Buffalo starter Jeurys Familia (3.0 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO) would be pinned with the loss to fall to 7-7 on the season after allowing five runs on six hits and two walks over just three innings of work.

With the victory, the Indians (67-42) extended their lead for the best record in the International League to six games over both the Charlotte Knights and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees. The Tribe and Bisons will now continue their four-game series on Sunday at 1:15 p.m. Indianapolis is expected to send LHP Justin Wilson to the mound, while the Bisons are scheduled to start RHP Chris Schwinden.

The contest will be televised live on WRTV Channel 6 and will also be carried on WNDE 1260 AM-WFBQ-HD2, 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 12:55 p.m.

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