IL1 Indianapolis Indians

Indians Walk-Off with 6-5 Win Over Pawsox

Published on June 8, 2010 under International League (IL1)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


INDIANAPOLIS -- Right fielder Kevin Melillo ripped a triple to right-center field in the bottom of the eleventh and immediately came around to score the game-winning tally when the PawSox threw the relay throw into the Tribe dugout to give the Indianapolis Indians the 6-5 series opening victory over the Pawtucket Red Sox on Tuesday night at Victory Field.

With the win, Indianapolis' record improves to 32-27, while the loss drops Pawtucket to 27-32 on the season. The victory also gives the Indians the 1-0 series lead and pushes their record to 4-1 against the PawSox this season.

Sparked by LF Jose Tabata, the Tribe jumped out to the early lead as the left fielder led off the bottom of the first with a walk, stole his International League best 24th base of the season and came around to score on a clutch two-out double by 3B Pedro Alvarez. However, Pawtucket quickly took over the lead with two tallies in the top of the second as 1B Lars Anderson and DH Aaron Bates led off the frame with back-to-back base hits and both came around to score on a two-run line drive single off the bat of 3B Jorge Jimenez.

The PawSox then broke through with three runs in the top of the fourth to jump ahead of the Tribe by the score of 5-1. After LF Ryan Kalish reached on a force out, C Dusty Brown lined a run scoring double to left to plate Kalish and give the Red Sox the 3-1 lead. Jimenez then continued the scoring rally with a base-on-balls, before 2B Niuman Romero reached on a costly Indians' fielding error that allowed both Brown and Jimenez to cross the plate and push Pawtucket ahead 5-1.

Indianapolis, however, would not roll over and die as they mounted a furious four-run comeback in the seventh to tie the score at 5-5 and set the stage for Melillo's late-inning heroics. 2B Brian Friday, SS Argenis Diaz, Tabata and Melillo led of the frame with back-to-back-to-back-to-back singles with Tabata's base knock plating Friday and Melillo's base hit bringing home Diaz.

A PawSox error on Melillo's RBI base knock also allowed Tabata to trot home and allowed the Indians' right fielder to advance to second. Myrow then pushed Melillo to third with a fly out to center before a wild pitch by Pawtucket reliever Dustin Richardson allowed Melillo to cross the plate with the game-tying tally.

Melillo (2-for-6, 2 R, 1 RBI), Friday (2-for-4, 1 R) and Diaz (2-for-5, 1 R) all collected multiple hits for the Indians, while Tabata (1-for-3, 2 R, 1 RBI, 3 BB) scored twice, stole two bases and reached base four times in the contest. For Pawtucket, only Bates (2-for-5, 1 R) and RF Daniel Nava (2-for-5) posted multi-hit efforts, while Jimenez (1-for-3, 1 R, 2 RBI, 2 BB) turned in the only multi-RBI game for either team.

Indians' reliever Jeremy Powell (5.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO) was brilliant in relief of Indians' starter Charlie Morton as the Indians' right-hander allowed just two hits and struck out two over 5.1 innings of scoreless work. The dominating outing comes after Powell tossed 6.1 hitless innings before suffering the 2-1 loss to the Gwinnett Braves in his last outing on June 2.

Following Powell's excellent effort, fellow reliever Brian Bass (2.0 IP, 0 H, 2 BB, 2 SO) tossed two hitless frames of his own to earn his first victory of the season and improve to 1-1 on the season. Red Sox reliever Robert Manuel (1.1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 SO) suffered the loss to drop to 3-1 on the season after allowing the triple to Melillo in the eleventh.

Neither starter figured in the final decision as Indians' RHP Charlie Morton (3.2 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 SO) allowed five runs (two earned) on six hits over 3.2 innings in his first Triple-A start of the season and Red Sox RHP Adam Mills (6.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 3 SO) allowed just one run on five hits over six frames of work.

Indianapolis continues its four-game set with Pawtucket on Wednesday, June 9 at 1:00 p.m. RHP Mike Crotta is expected to get the call for the Indians, while LHP Kris Johnson is the probable starter for the PawSox.

The contest will be carried by WXLW-950 AM and nationally televised live on the MLB Network (Bright House Networks channels 124 & 763 (HD), Comcast Cable channel 279, Insight Cable channels 516 & 949 (HD) and DirecTV channel 213) with Howard Kellman and Scott McCauley on the call. The pre-game show on WXLW-950 AM begins at 12:40 p.m.

Post-game quotes -- RF Kevin Melillo

(on his game-winning at-bat in the bottom of the 11th inning)

"Both bullpens were phenomenal tonight. Their guys out of the bullpen were great and their starters were great. I was just trying to be selective and see if I could draw a walk. I got a pitch I could handle and put it in the gap. I was running as hard as I could because I knew I didn't get enough of it to hit it out, but I started running around the bases and fortunately for us the ball wound up in the dugout."

(on winning four of the first five games on the homestand)

"It's still early in the season and as long as we keep gaining ground (on their West Division opponents), we'll be in position to make a push at the end of the year. Playing in front of our home crowd is awesome and I think it's showing in the way we're playing the game."

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