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IL1 Indianapolis Indians

Leroux and Longballs Lift Tribe Past Clippers 4-0

August 11, 2012 - International League (IL1)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Tribe starter Chris Leroux tossed seven scoreless innings, while third baseman Yamaico Navarro, catcher Tony Sanchez and left fielder Brandon Boggs all belted solo home runs to help lead the Indianapolis Indians to a 4-0 shutout victory over the Columbus Clippers on Saturday night at Huntington Park.

Leroux (7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO) turned in a masterful performance in Saturday's nights first versus second place matchup, allowing just three singles and one walk while striking out four over seven shutout innings to earn the victory and improve to 2-0 on the season. Since joining the Indians rotation on July 26, Leroux has now earned two wins while posting an incredible 0.72 ERA (2 ER in 25.0 IP) with 17 strikeouts and just three walks over 25.0 innings pitched.

Following Leroux, Tribe reliever Daniel McCutchen (2.0 IP, 1 H, 3 SO) would also continue a stretch of dominant work by holding down the Tribe victory with three strikeouts over two scoreless frames of relief. With his effort on Saturday night, McCutchen has now tossed 10 straight scoreless innings of relief, surrendering just three base hits and one walk while striking out 12 during that span.

While Leroux and McCutchen held down the powerful Columbus lineup that entered the contest leading the International League in runs scored, doubles, home runs, RBI and total bases, the Indianapolis offense would use the longball to help seal the victory.

However, before the Indians offense came through with their power surge, CF Alex Presley came through with what proved to be the game-winning score with a clutch two-our RBI single in the bottom of the third to put the Indians ahead 1-0. Presley's base knock scored SS Chase d'Arnaud from second after the speedster ripped a two-out base hit of his own and moved up to second on a Clippers' wild pitch.

After Presley came through with the Tribe's first tally the Indians would tack on three insurance scores on three solo longballs, beginning with back-to-back jacks in the top of the fourth inning.

Navarro began the fireworks show when he lined a one-out homer over the left field wall for his seventh home run of the season. Sanchez then immediately followed with his seventh roudtripper, a blast to deep center field that gave the Indians' backstop an RBI in three consecutive contests.

Indianapolis was not finished with the homer show, however, as Boggs tied a bow on the festivities with a solo shot of his own in the top of the seventh. The blast for Boggs, which was his eighth of the season, continued a stretch of dominance against Columbus pitching this season as the switch hitter has now batted .382 (21-for-55) with 12 runs, five doubles, four home runs and 12 RBI over 16 games against Columbus.

All three Tribe longballs came off of Columbus starter TJ McFarland (7.0 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO) who suffered the loss to fall to 5-6 on the season. One of the lone bright spots on the evening for the Clippers was the two hitless frames of relief from left handers Rafael Perez (1.0 IP, 1 BB) and JC Romero (1.0 IP, 1 BB).

With the victory the Indians (73-49) increase their advantage over the Clippers back to nine games. The two teams will now decide the three-game series in the rubber match on Sunday night at 6:05 p.m. with Indianapolis expected to send RHP Daniel Cabrera to the mound and Columbus scheduled to counter with LHP Matt Packer.

The game will be carried on WNDE 1260 AM-WFBQ-HD2, WNDE.com and via iheartradio, a mobile application for iPhone, Blackberry and Android phones with Howard Kellman and Will Flemming on the call. The pre-game show begins at 5:45 p.m.

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