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IL1 Indianapolis Indians

Leroux Leads Tribe Past PawSox 5-1

July 26, 2012 - International League (IL1)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


INDIANAPOLIS --Making a spot start on Thursday night in which he filled the hole left by recently-traded southpaw Rudy Owens, right-handed pitcher Chris Leroux tossed five shutout innings at Victory Field to lead the Indianapolis Indians past the Pawtucket Red Sox 5-1.

Leroux (5.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K) had made 14 relief appearances out of the Indianapolis bullpen before stepping into the starting spot vacated when Owens was traded by the Pittsburgh Pirates in a Tuesday night deal for former Houston Astros LHP Wandy Rodriguez. Leroux had posted no record so far this year, but picked up his first win of the season on Thursday night.

After starting the year on the disabled list, Leroux made a tune-up start with Class-A Bradenton on June 6 but threw only 3.0 innings. He had been a full-time releiever in each season since the end of 2006, his first season in professional baseball when he went 0-4 in 11 starts across three levels.

Leroux was coming off of his longest outing of the season, having tossed 4.0 innings of relief with one hit and one strikeout in a 14-inning Indianapolis win in Toledo on Monday night. In his past two games combined, Leroux has thrown a complete game shutout.

Scattering three hits and a lone walk across 5.0 innings, Leroux faced only a first-inning jam in his Thursday night gem. With two outs in the inning, C Ryan Lavarnway reached for Pawtucket on a throwing error and 1B Lars Anderson walked, but Leroux induced a groundout to end the threat before coasting through the rest of his outing.

Leroux's Indianapolis teammates provided the righty with all of the run support he would need in a two-run third inning. With two on and no out, SS Chase d'Arnaud reached on a bunt single that was thrown into right field, allowing LF Jeff Larish to score and the runners to advance to second and third. 2B Brian Friday eventually scored the game's second run on a sacrifice fly by CF Jose Tabata later in the frame.

The Indians also tallied a pair of insurance runs in the bottom of the seventh on back-to-back doubles. The first two-bagger of the inning was the second of the game and 30th of the season for DH Jeff Clement and scored 1B Matt Hague, who had singled. Clement then scored on a double by RF Brandon Boggs that deflected off the glove of the diving Pawtucket first baseman.

Indianapolis added a final run in the seventh when d'Arnaud hit his fourth triple of the season and scored when 2B Anderson Hernandez reached on an infield hit. Pawtucket finally scored their lone run of the game in the eighth inning when SS Jonathon Hee crossed the plate on a fielders choice off the bat of Lavarnway.

In support of Leroux, RHP Bryan Morris (2.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K) allowed just one unearned run in 2.2 innings of work. LHP Jo-Jo Reyes (0.1 IP, 1 H) allowed one hit in his return from the disabled list, making his first appearance for Indianapolis since May 22.

In a non-save situation, Tribe closer Tim Wood (1.0 IP, 1 BB, 1 K) tossed a scoreless ninth inning, allowing one walk while recording one strikeout. For Pawtucket, RHP Tony Pena, Jr. (5.1 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 K) suffered the loss to fall to 1-9 on the season.

The Indians and Red Sox will wrap up their four-game series at 7:15 p.m. on Friday. RHP Daniel Cabrera (4-4, 4.31) is expected to make the start for Indianapolis, while LHP Chris Hernandez (0-0, 3.00) will likely take the bump for Pawtucket.

The contest will be televised on HTSN (Hometown Sports and News), available via cable or over-the-air on digital channel 6.2. The game will also 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 6:55 p.m.

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Post-game quotes -- DH Jeff Clement

(On starting pitcher Chris Leroux's start) "Obviously, Leroux did a great job and gave us a chance to win that game. We only had a couple runs through the first few innings and he just kept putting up zeros. Anytime a pitcher's going to put up zeros like that, we're going to have a great chance to win."

(On his two-hit performance after making a recent adjustment) "Every day is an adjustment. You've got to keep trying to get better and every day is different, so I was able to put something together at the plate that ended up getting me a couple hits."

(On the overall team effort) "We've got a really good team this year. Obviously, it starts on the mound and we had another great start tonight and the bullpen did a great job. Whenever we can score a few runs here and there, we've been able to win a lot of games that way."

(On recently promoted outfielder Starling Marte hitting a home run in his first major league at-bat) "That's a pretty incredible start to his big-league career. I can't say there's a single guy on this team who's surprised that he hit the first pitch he saw out. He's an incredible talent and he's going to be up there for a long time."

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