IL Indianapolis Indians

Oliva Steals Home to Walk off Clippers

June 9, 2022 - International League (IL)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


INDIANAPOLIS - Following a 2-2 offering to Canaan Smith-Njigba with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, Jared Oliva broke for the plate and slid in safely to give the Indianapolis Indians a walk-off steal of home against the Columbus Clippers on Thursday night, 6-5.

With one out, Oliva hit a well-placed grounder that snuck inside first base down the right-field line for a double. A groundout by Oneil Cruz then moved Oliva to third base to set up the walk-off opportunity. After Ben Krauth (L, 3-1) missed the strike zone with his 2-2 pitch, Clippers' catcher Bryan Lavastida lobbed his return throw to the mound, and Oliva - with a healthy lead off third - dashed for home. Oliva's head-first slide beat Krauth's throw back to the plate, sending the Indians (28-27) and 8,780 fans in attendance into a frenzy. It was the first steal of home by an Indians baserunner since Will Craig on April 12, 2019.

Columbus (34-23) grabbed an early 1-0 lead in the first inning on a run-scoring groundout, but the Indians plated four runs in the third to take a 4-1 advantage. After Oliva was beaned to lead off the inning and a walk to Cruz, Smith-Njigba laced a grounder into center field to make it 1-1. Ji-Hwan Bae followed with an opposite-field RBI double ahead of consecutive RBI groundouts by Mason Martin and Rodolfo Castro to cap the four-run frame.

The Clippers pulled within one run in the top of the seventh on three walks, a hit batter and sacrifice fly against reliever Cristofer Melendez, but Cruz launched a solo homer in the bottom half to push the margin back to two, 5-3. Cruz's ninth long ball of the season carried 428 feet to the berm in right-center.

Columbus' success against Indy's bullpen continued with one run apiece in the eighth and ninth inning to tie the game. In the eighth, Lavastida roped a leadoff triple to set up an RBI single by Mitchell Tolman. Then with runners on the corners in the top of the ninth, Lavastida softly grounded a ball past pitcher Austin Brice (W, 2-2) to score Will Brennan. The Clippers' comeback effort was all for naught thanks to Oliva's sprint home.

Bryse Wilson surrendered just one earned run over 6.0 impressive frames, recording his second consecutive quality start in three Triple-A outings. It marked just the third quality start by an Indians pitcher this season, and he became the first to record back-to-back quality starts since Max Kranick and James Marvel each did so in September 2021.

The Indians and Clippers will play the fourth game of the six-game set on Friday at 7:05 PM ET. RHP Cody Bolton (1-1, 2.78) will take the bump for Indy against Columbus RHP Peyton Battenfield (3-3, 2.82).

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