IL1 Indianapolis Indians

McPhersons Lead Tribe Past Columbus 8-6

August 25, 2012 - International League (IL1)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


INDIANAPOLIS -- Designated hitter Dallas McPherson belted two home runs, including a two-run walkoff blast in the bottom of the ninth, while right-hander Kyle McPherson tossed seven scoreless innings to begin the game as the Indianapolis Indians took down the Columbus Clipper 8-6 in front of 13,663 fans on Saturday night at Victory Field.

While Dallas McPherson was ultimately the hero on Saturday night, Kyle McPherson (7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 SO) got the Tribe off to a fantastic start on the mound allowing just two hits and two walks while striking out five over what proved to be a seven-inning no decision. In his three starts since joining the Indians on August 8, Kyle McPherson has now posted a miniscule 0.98 ERA (2 ER in 18.1 IP) with 17 strikeouts and just four walks over 18.1 innings.

The Indians looked well on their way to give Kyle his first career Triple-A victory leading 6-1 heading into the final frame of action, however, following a five-run offensive outburst by Columbus it would be Dallas that would come through in the clutch to give the Tribe the win.

With the scored tied at 6-6 in the top of the ninth, 1B Matt Hague drew a one-out walk to set the stage for McPherson, who launched his second homer of the night and third in the last two days to give the Tribe their fourth walkoff victory of the season. McPherson's first blast of the night came back in the fifth inning when he muscled a ball over the left-field fence to extend the Tribe's advantage to 6-0.

Indianapolis had jumped ahead with five scores in the first frame, beginning with the red-hot duo of SS Chase d'Arnaud and 2B Brock Holt, who led off with back-to-back base hits. With his base knock, d'Arnaud extended his hitting streak to six straight games, while Holt, who would add another base knock later in the contest, continued his torrid pace at the Triple-A level with a .406 average in 18 games with the Tribe.

Following the back-to-back base knocks, CF Alex Presley gave the Tribe a 2-0 lead by launching a bases-clearing triple to right. Dallas McPherson would later push Presley across the plate with an RBI groundout that extended the Indians advantage to 3-0.

The first-frame offensive outburst continued with a fireworks show courtesy of RF Brandon Boggs and LF Yamaico Navarro, who belted back-to-back two-out solo home runs to extend the Indians advantage to 5-0. The solo blasts were the ninth longballs of the season for both Tribe sluggers.

Columbus would finally get on the board in the top of the eighth inning, when following back-to-back singles from SS Juan Diaz and C Matt Pagnozzi to lead off the frame, LF Tim Fedroff would line a two-out base hit to score Diaz and cut the lead to 6-1.

Not ready to roll over, the Clippers would extend the action in the final frame, courtesy of roundtrippers from 3B Gregorio Petit and C Matt Pagnozzi. 2B Cord Phelps began the rally with a leadoff walk before DH Vinny Rottino lined a single off reliever Evan Meek (0.1 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB) to set up Petit, who crushed his 10th homer off new reliever Doug Slaten (0.0 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 2 HR) over the left field fence to cut the Tribe lead to 6-4.

Then, after a walk to Diaz, Pagnozzi would complete the comeback by lifting his own longball to left to even the score at 6-6. Though not earning a save, Tribe closer Tim Wood (0.2 IP, 1 H) would come on to save the day, inducing the final two outs of the frame and ultimately earning the victory to improve to 6-6 on the season.

Columbus reliever Tyler Sturdevant (0.1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 HR) would suffer the loss to fall to 0-3 after surrendering the walk-off shot to Dallas McPherson. Clippers starter David Huff (6.0 IP, 10 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO, 3 HR) was taken off the hook by the late-frame rally as he did not figure in the decision despite serving up six runs on 10 hits over six innings of work.

The Indians will now continue their three-game series against the Columbus Clippers with a contest on Sunday afternoon at 1:15 p.m. Indianapolis is expected to send RHP Rick VandenHurk (12-4, 3.04) to the mound, while Columbus is scheduled to counter with LHP TJ McFarland (6-6, 5.20).

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 12:55 p.m.

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