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Indians Walk off Clippers on Craig's Career-High 20th Blast

July 30, 2019 - International League (IL1)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


INDIANAPOLIS - Will Craig ended a swift 2-hour, 19-minute game in quick fashion with a walk-off home run on the first pitch in the bottom of the ninth to power the Indians to a 3-2 win over first-place Columbus on Tuesday night. The walk-off homer was the first of Craig's professional career and the first for the Tribe since an Alen Hanson walk-off grand slam on Aug. 15, 2016 against Louisville.

In dire need of a victory to remain within striking distance of Columbus in the IL West race, the Indians (54-53) received another quality start from James Marvel and Craig's career-high tying 20th long ball to split the two-game set. The win brought the Tribe back to within 7.0 games of Columbus in the division.

The Tribe secured a 2-0 lead through four innings of play, only to see the Clippers (61-46) pull even in the fifth on Eric Haase's 25th home run - a two-out, two-run shot to left. Indy went up 1-0 in the third thanks to an error by shortstop Eric Stamets, who couldn't field an Erik Gonzalez grounder with two away. Jason Martin scored on the play after he and Hunter Owen started the inning with consecutive singles. Kevin Kramer then lofted an 0-2 pitch in the fourth inning onto the right field lawn for his eighth home run to double the lead.

Marvel's only mistakes came with two down in the fifth. Former Indian Max Moroff punched a 3-1 pitch into right field ahead of the Haase game-tying home run, but the righty regained form and ended his outing with a strikeout of Bobby Bradley. He yielded just three hits and one walk with six punchouts in the no-decision.

Parker Markel made his Pirates organization debut in the seventh and tossed a 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts. Dovydas Neverauskas (W, 3-1) struck out the side in the eighth and induced a double play to work around a leadoff walk in the ninth.

Cam Hill (L, 3-1) served up Craig's walk-off blast to suffer the loss.

The Indians improved to 22-16 in one-run games and the triumph was their second over Columbus in seven meetings at Victory Field.

Indy now has three walk-off home runs against Columbus since 2006. Yurendell de Caster hit a two-run shot on July 4, 2006 and Dallas McPherson clubbed a two-run homer on Aug. 25, 2012.

The Indians hit the road for a brief two-game series in Toledo beginning Wednesday at 7:05 p.m. ET. Cam Vieaux (3-2, 5.50) and Steven Brault (MLB rehab) are Indy's probable pitchers for the series.

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