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IL1 Indianapolis Indians

Indy holds off Rochester, 2-1

May 3, 2009 - International League (IL1)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


NDIANAPOLIS -- Rochester left two runners stranded in the ninth inning as their comeback attempt fell short and the Indianapolis Indians gained the series split with a 2-1 victory on Sunday afternoon at Victory Field.

With the win the Indians improve to 10-12 overall and 5-8 at home, while the Red Wings fall to 9-12 on the season and 7-8 on the road. The victory helped the Indians to split the four game series in their only matchup with the Red Wings at home this season.

Red Wings designated hitter Justin Huber and left fielder Dustin Martin collected back-to-back one-out singles to begin the Red Wings ninth inning threat. Rochester first baseman Matt Macri then singled with two outs to bring the Wings to within one run and leave baserunners on first and third.

However, Tribe reliever Juan Mateo (1.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 SO) buckled down and struck out Rochester RF Tommy Watkins on three pitches to seal the victory for the Indians. Mateo came into Sunday's contest with nine straight scoreless innings of relief and escaped the Rochester rally to pick up his second save of the season.

RHP Jeremy Powell (6.0 IP, 3 H, 1 BB, 3 SO) dominated in his first career start for the Indianapolis Indians. The start was his first in America since 2001 when he was with Triple-A Portland (Ore.), as the big righty has spent the past eight seasons (2001-2008) in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball League.

Powell received a no decision in the game, but allowed only three hits, while striking out three in six scoreless innings of work. Tribe LHP Corey Hamman (2.0 IP, 1 H) picked up his first win of the season in relief of Powell after he allowed only one baserunner in two shutout innings. RHP Jason Jones (6.1 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 5 BB, 2 SO) got the nod for the Red Wings and was handed his third loss as he allowed the only two Indianapolis runs in his 6.1 innings of work.

Tribe DH Shelby Ford (2-for-3, 1 RBI, 1 BB) singled twice to collect his second straight multi-hit game and the only multi-hit performance on the day. With his second base knock in the seventh, Ford brought around the game's first run as C Erik Kratz scored to put Indianapolis up 1-0. Ford has been one of the Indians hottest hitters over the last six games, batting .368 (7-for-19) with four RBI and four runs scored.

Ford's RBI single put the Indians on the board, but it was LF Jeff Salazar's RBI groundout in the seventh that proved to be the game winner. Salazar also made a run-saving diving catch on LF Dustin Martin's line drive to deep left-center field in the first inning that helped the Tribe avoid an early Rochester rally by stranding runners on first and second.

After starting the season with 26 errors in their first 21 games, the Indians defense came up big providing a plethora of great plays on Sunday. Along with Salazar's diving catch, the Tribe also received high caliber defense from Powell, 1B Steve Pearce and C Erik Kratz.

Powell made a diving catch on Red Wing Matt Tolbert's bunt attempt in the sixth as well as a lunging backhanded put-out on a Tommy Watkins grounder early in the game. Pearce also made a fantastic play as he hustled to track down a flyball in foul ground, while C Erik Kratz joined in on the glovework with a diving play on CF Jason Pridie's third inning bunt single attempt.

Clutch defense and dominate pitching helped Indianapolis to hold Rochester to only one run on seven hits and prevent any Red Wings hitter from turning in a multi-hit performance. Pridie was the star for Rochester all weekend as he went 5-for-17 (.294) with four runs, one RBI and two stolen bases over the four game series.

With his single in the sixth inning on Sunday, Pridie extended his current hitting streak to an even 14-games, which is currently ranked the third longest in the International League this season.

Indianapolis begins a four-game series with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Monday at 7:00 p.m. RHP Virgil Vasquez is scheduled to start for Indianapolis, while RHP Alfredo Aceves is expected to get the nod for the Yankees.

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 6:40 p.m.

Post-game quotes -- LF Jeff Salazar

(on his diving catch that saved two runs in the first inning) "To tell you the truth I really don't know. Today in batting practice and on most days we practice those situations. But it's still an unusual situation when you have to make diving plays, but you just need to go out there and continue to have fun and then you can come up with those plays.."

(on missed scoring opportunities) "That's really just part of the game. I like the way that Kremblas managed the game. He stayed very aggressive, like on the squeeze play and when he sent Barnwell (INF Chris Barnwell) home when the cut when to second base instead of the cut off man. I like to play that way. If you always play hard and stay aggressive, even if you come out of a game on the losing end you can feel good about the way that you played."

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