Rochester routs Indy
Published on May 1, 2009 under International League (IL1)
Indianapolis Indians News Release
INDIANAPOLIS -- Designated hitter Justin Huber slugged a grand slam in the first inning to propel the Rochester Red Wings to a 9-3 victory over the Indianapolis Indians on Friday May 1 at Victory Field.
The Red Wings improve to 8-10 on the season and 6-6 on the road, while the Indians fall to 8-11 overall and 3-7 at home. The win gives Rochester a series opening victory as the two teams begin their first series of the season.
Rochester jumped out to an early lead as they led off the game with five straight batters reaching base. CF Jason Pridie and 2B Matt Tolbert lined back-to-back singles to begin the contest, before 3B Luke Hughes followed with a walk to load the bases.
Huber (1-for-3, 2 R, 4 RBI, 1 BB, 1 HBP) then provided the game's big blow when he belted a grand slam to deep center field to give the Red Wings an early 4-0 advantage. The longball was Huber's second home run in just his first three at-bats at the Triple-A level this season.
The Red Wings added three more runs to their lead in the third as SS Trevor Plouffe singled home both Huber and Hughes. Plouffe then came home on 1B Matt Macri's sacrifice fly extending Rochester's lead to 7-0.
After a rough start from Indians RHP Jason Davis (3.1 IP, 8 H, 9 R, 8 ER, 3 BB, 1 SO) the Tribe followed with a dominating bullpen performance. The Tribe relief corps only allowed two baserunners and stuck out six in their combined 5.2 scoreless innings of work.
RHP Sean Smith (3.2 IP, 1 H, 5 SO) made his Indians debut after being acquired Friday from Short-Season State College (Pa.). Smith extinguished the hot Rochester bats allowing only one hit while striking out five over 3.2 innings of work.
Tribe RHP Brian Slocum (1.0 IP, 1 H) followed Smith with a scoreless inning of his own, before RHP Juan Mateo (1.0 IP, 1 SO) rounded out the Indians bullpen performance with a perfect ninth and has now held teams to no earned runs in his 13 innings of relief work since being acquired from Double-A Altoona on April 11.
Davis received the loss for the Indians to drop to 0-3, while Rochester starting pitcher Anthony Swarzak (7.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 6 SO) tallied his first win of the season. Swarzak allowed three runs and struck out six over seven innings of work to improve to 1-3 on the campaign.
Pridie (2-for-5, 2 R, 1 SO), Tolbert (2-for-5, 1 R, 1 3B, 1 RBI), Plouffe (2-for-5, 2 RBI, 1 SO) and LF Dustin Martin (2-for-5, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 SO) all provided multi-hit performances for Rochester, while 2B Shelby Ford (2-for-4, 1 RBI) collected the Indians only multi-hit game. Tribe DH Larry Broadway slammed his first longball of the season and his first with the Indians when he crushed a 430-foot dinger to right field in the seventh inning.
The Tribe scored their other two runs in the third when SS Luis Cruz led off with a single followed by CF Andrew McCutchen's base on balls. Ford then plated Cruz with his second single of the game, before LF Jeff Salazar followed with a sacrafice fly that scored McCutchen.
Due to a lengthy rain delay on Friday evening, the Indianapolis Indians and Rochester Red Wings will play a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 5:30 p.m.
Both contests of the Saturday's doubleheader will be scheduled for seven innings with the gates opening at 5 p.m.
Red Wings RHP Phillip Humber and Indians RHP Ty Taubenheim are the probable starters for game one, while Red Wings LHP Brian Duensing and Indians LHP Tom Gorzelanny are expected to get the nod in game two.
Due to the newly scheduled doubleheader, Saturday's Pre-game Autograph session has been cancelled. Indianapolis will have two more Autograph nights during the 2009 season with taking place on Saturday June 13 and the other on Saturday July 25.
Both of Saturday night's contests will be carried by WXLW-950 AM and www.IndyIndians.com with Howard Kellman and Scott McCauley. The pre-game show begins at 5:10 p.m.
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