IL1 Indianapolis Indians

Late Inning Rally Lifts Lehigh Valley Over Tribe 10-8

Published on July 19, 2010 under International League (IL1)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


INDIANAPOLIS-- Despite the Tribe plating eight runs over the first two frames and center fielder Alex Presley posting a 5-for-5 effort, the Lehigh Valley IronPigs rallied with four runs in the seventh and three more in the ninth to come away with a 10-8 series-opening victory over the Indianapolis Indians in front of a crowd of 10,232 on Monday night at Victory Field.

The loss for Indianapolis drops their record to 50-47 on the season, while with the comeback victory for Lehigh Valley, their record now sits at 39-57. The win for the IronPigs also improves their season record to 3-2 against the Tribe so far this season with the two teams having split a four-game series in Lehigh Valley in early May.

Every positional starter on both sides collected at least one hit with the trio of Presley, 1B Jeff Clement and RF Brandon Moss leading the way for the Indians with a combined nine hits, six runs and six RBI. Presley's 5-for-5 effort helped the Triple-A rookie tie OF Jose Tabata and C Erik Kratz for the longest hitting streak by an Indians' player this season at 11 straight contests and was his second five-hit effort in an Indians' uniform this season.

During his stupendous streak, Presley is hitting .488 (21-for-43) with 10 runs scored, while RF Brandon Moss moved just one game behind Presley with his 2-for-4 effort, extending his hitting streak to 10 straight games during which time he has posted a .386 batting average (17-for-44) with 10 runs scored and 12 RBI. Clement (2-for-4, 2 R, 4 RBI) led all hitters with four RBI in a losing effort, while CF John Mayberry Jr. (4-for-5, 2 R, 2 RBI) led Lehigh Valley with four base knocks on the evening

However, behind a ninth inning rally and seven scoreless innings from their bullpen, the IronPigs came away with the 10-8 victory.

Philadelphia Philles' top prospect Domonic Brown began the final frame comeback with a line drive single to right field and immediately moved to third when Mayberry Jr belted a double to left for his fourth base knock of the contest. Then, following a groundout by 3B Neil Sellers and intentional walk to 1B Paul Hoover, Tribe closer Jean Machi struck out IronPigs C Dane Sardinha and moved to 2-2 on SS Brian Bocock, before Bocock came through with a game-winning bases clearing triple.

After starter Nate Bump (2.0 IP, 9 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO) surrendered a season-high eight earned runs on nine hits in just two innings of work, Lehigh Valley relievers Joe Savery (4.0 IP, 4 H, 1 BB, 4 SO), Mike Zagurski (1.0 IP, 1 H, 2 BB), Michael Schwimer (1.0 IP, 2 H, 1 SO) and Antonio Bastardo (1.0 IP, 1 SO) combined for seven scoreless innings of relief with Schwimer earning the victory to improve to 1-0 and Bastardo notching his first save with a scoreless ninth.

After Lehigh Valley jumped out to an early 1-0 lead on an RBI single by Mayberry Jr. that scored LF Chris Aguila, the Indianapolis offense exploded for four runs in the first and four more in the second to bolt out to an 8-1 advantage. Clement began the four-run first inning rally when he doubled home both 3B Akinori Iwamura and Presley, who reached on a base on balls and a two-bagger in the previous two at-bats.

Moss continued the first inning offensive outburst when he lined a single to right to move Clement to third, where he would trot home on a sacrifice fly by 2B Jim Negrych one batter later. C Jason Jaramillo then capped the first frame fireworks when he lifted the third two-bagger of the frame to right field to plate Moss and give the Tribe the 4-1 advantage.

The Tribe's terrific trio then continued to lay on the damage with a four-run two-out rally in the bottom of the second inning. Iwamura began the rally again when he lined a two-out base hit to left, before moving to third on a single to center by Presley.

Clement then came through with another two-run base knock when he roped a single to right to plate Iwamura and Presley for his third and fourth RBI of the contest. Moss would then wrap up the Tribe's scoring when he blasted his team-leading 13th home run of the season to right field to plate Clement and give the Indians what looked at the time to be a commanding 8-1 lead.

However, Lehigh Valley would not roll over and die as they battled back with two runs in the fourth and four more in the seventh to pull within one at 8-7.

Hoover began the IronPigs' comeback in the fourth with an RBI double that plated Mayberry Jr. before coming around to score the second tally of the frame when Sardinha lined a single to center.

Former Indianapolis Indians' OF Chris Duffy began Lehigh Valley's seventh inning rally when he tripled home SS Brian Bocock and then came around to touch home when another former Tribe OF, Chris Aguila, lined a single to right. Brown then continued the rally with sharp single to left, before Mayberry came through with another RBI base knock to score Aguila before Sellers capped the scoring with a base hit to left to plate Brown.

Indianapolis starter Dana Eveland (3.1 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO) did not figure in the final decision after allowing three runs on six hits over just 3.1 innings of work and Tribe closer Jean Machi (1.0 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO) suffered the loss to fall to 5-3 on the season after surrendering three runs on three hits in the IronPigs' ninth inning rally.

Indianapolis continues its four-game series with Lehigh Valley on Tuesday, July 20 at 7:00 p.m. RHP Daniel McCutchen is expected to get the start for the Tribe, while LHP J.A. Happ is the probable starter for the IronPigs.

The contest will be carried by WXLW-950 AM and broadcast live on Comcast and Bright House Networks digital channel 81 with Howard Kellman and Scott McCauley on the call. The pre-game show on WXLW-950 AM begins at 6:40 p.m.

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International League Stories from July 19, 2010


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