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IL1 Indianapolis Indians

Indians Rally For 8-7 Walk-Off Win Over Clippers

August 25, 2009 - International League (IL1)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


INDIANAPOLIS -- The Indianapolis Indians plated three runs on two hits and two errors in the bottom of the ninth, including a two-run walk-off single by right fielder Brian Myrow to rally past the Columbus Clippers 8-7 on Tuesday night at Victory Field.

With the win the Indians improve to 64-66 overall and 34-31 at home, while the Clippers fall to 52-77 overall and 25-39 on the road with the loss. The win for Indianapolis gives them a 2-1 advantage in the current set and evens the season series between the two clubs at 10 games apiece.

Trailing 7-5 entering the final frame of play, the Tribe mounted a furious comeback to take game three of the series. 1B Hector Gimenez led off the rally with a single up the middle and moved to second when pinch hitter Jeff Salazar reached on the first of two Columbus' miscues in the inning.

The throwing error by Clippers' closer Greg Aquino allowed both Gimenez and Salazar to later be moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt by SS Argenis Diaz. Aquino then intentionally walked CF Jose Tabata to load the bases and set the stage for the walk-off heroics.

With Gimenez on third and Salazar at second, 2B Pedro Lopez bounced a ball up the middle that was fielded by SS Niuman Romero, who tried to turn what would have been the game-ending double play. However, 2B Jesus Merchan dropped the ball on Romero's throw allowing Gimenez to score and no outs to be recorded.

Following the second error of the frame, Myrow would come through with the clutch base hit that brought home both Salazar and Tabata and gave the Indians' their ninth walk-off win of this season.

Columbus jumped out to a quick lead in the contest with four runs in the second as DH Stephen Head led off the frame with a walk, moved to third on a two-bagger by C Damaso Espino and scored the first run of the game on a base hit by 2B Jesus Merchan. Then after RF Mickey Hall reached on a fielder's choice that saw Espino get thrown out at the plate, Romero rocketed a double to left to bring home both Merchan and Hall and extended the Clippers' lead to 3-0.

Columbus was not finished in the second as they added one more tally when LF Josh Barfield lined a two-out double to left to bring home Romero. The two-bagger for Barfield not only extended the Clippers' lead to 4-0, but also extended Barfield's team best hitting streak to seven games.

However, Indianapolis would not go down quietly as the quickly tied the score with four runs of their own in the bottom of the third inning. The Indians' would make their rally all with two outs in the third, began by Lopez who lifted a two-out single to right to begin the scoring attack.

Lopez was quickly joined on the base paths by Myrow, who collected a single of his own and then jogged home along with Lopez when LF Tagg Bozied connected on a mammoth home run to deep left center field. With the long ball, which was Bozied's fifth on the season and second in as many games, the Tribe outfielder has now reached base in 19 of his last 21 contests.

Tribe C Erik Kratz immediately followed Bozied's shot with a blast of his own to straight away center that tied the score up at 4-4. The home run was Kratz's 10th on the season and his first at Victory Field, while it also gave Indianapolis back-to-back homers for the fifth time this season and the first since OF Garrett Jones and Kratz did it on June 22 at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

But the Columbus offense would explode again with three more runs in the seventh inning to take back the lead as 1B Jordan Brown and 3B Tony Graffinino led off the frame with back-to-back base hits and moved into scoring position when Head laid down a sacrifice bunt. Espino then came through with what looked to be the game-winning base knock as he lined a single to left to bring home both Brown and Graffinino. Then following a single by Merchan, Espino would cross the plate when Hall lifted a single of his own to left field.

The Indians would continue to make the game interesting as they got a run of their own in the seventh when DH Robinzon Diaz led off the frame with a double, moved to third on a wild pitch and came plateward on an RBI groundout by Tabata. This run would move the Tribe within two and set the stage for their final frame walk-off rally.

Neither starter figured in the decision as Indians' RHP Daniel McCutchen (6.0 IP, 10 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO) allowed four runs on a season-high 10 hits over six innings of work and Columbus LHP Mike Gosling (6.0 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO) allowed four runs on eight hits, including both Indianapolis long balls.

Indianapolis' reliever Jean Machi (1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 1 SO) worked a scoreless ninth to earn his first career Triple-A victory, while Aquino (0.1 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 1 BB) gave up all three unearned runs in the ninth and suffered the loss to drop to 1-2 on the season.

Indianapolis will finish their four-game series against division rival Columbus on Wednesday at 1:00 p.m. RHP Ty Taubenheim is scheduled to start for the Indians, while RHP Ken Ray is expected to get the nod for the Clippers.

The contest will be carried by WXLW-950 AM and www.IndyIndians.com with Howard Kellman and Scott McCauley. The pre-game show begins at 12:40 p.m.

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Post-game quote -- RF Brian Myrow

(on his game-winning hit)

"I was just trying to get something up so I didn't hit a ground ball. I figured he would stay away with a two-seam fast ball and try to get a grounder. I don't run very well, so they would have gotten a double-play and won the game. But I was able to the ball in the air and get a hit."

(on what the goals are for the rest of the season)

"You want to finish strong, win as many games as you can, and hopefully get over .500, which has been a goal of ours for awhile. It's going to be tough because Toledo is ahead of us and they are in the playoff race. And of course, we have Louisville for six more games and they are playing really well. It is going to be tough, but hopefully we can get above .500 and win a few more games."

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