Stripers Walk off on Ruiz's Two-Run Homer in Ninth
July 18, 2018 - International League (IL1)
Indianapolis Indians News Release
LAWRENCEVILLE, GA - Rio Ruiz smashed a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth to give the Stripers their fifth straight win on Wednesday night. The 4-2 final was Indy's fourth consecutive defeat overall and eighth in 10 meetings with Gwinnett this season.
Ruiz's sixth long ball of the year followed a Michael Reed double to left-center that banged off the base of the wall. The walk-off win was Gwinnett's third of the season and improved their record to 3-9 when tied after eight innings of play.
Jesus Liranzo (L, 0-1) threw just six pitches and suffered his first loss at the Triple-A level. He allowed both hits in the ninth.
The Stripers (44-52) scored one run in the first off Brandon Waddell but left the bases loaded as Indy's southpaw struck out Chris Stewart on four pitches.
They added another run three frames later to double the lead. Sean Kazmar Jr. doubled into the left-field corner and touched home on a Luis Marte two-out single up the middle, the fifth RBI for Marte in the series.
The Indians (50-44) pulled even after Stripers starter Max Fried departed with two outs in the fifth at 75 pitches. Fried did not allow a hit in his rehab start, walking three with six strikeouts. His replacement Elian Leyva quickly served up a single to Waddell, walk to Kevin Newman and two-run double to Adam Frazier that made it 2-2.
Gwinnett nearly regained the lead in the sixth when they loaded the bases against Waddell once more to knock him out of the game. Dovydas Neverauskas inherited the jam and struck out Michael Reed before inducing an inning-ending groundout to second by Ruiz.
Neverauskas posted zeroes in the seventh and eighth, as well, to drop his ERA to 1.38 in 32.2 innings with the Tribe this season.
In addition to Waddell and Frazier's knocks in the fifth, the Tribe could only muster one other hit the rest of the night - a one-out single by Pablo Reyes in the seventh.
Jacob Webb (W, 2-2) fanned two during a perfect ninth to earn the win.
Indy's opponents have scored first in each of the last five games.
The Indians have gone 12 straight games without recording 10 or more hits.
The Indians and Stripers meet for the final time in 2018 on Thursday night at 7:05 p.m. EDT. Tribe right-hander J.T. Brubaker (4-3, 4.01) will face off against Gwinnett left-hander Luiz Gohara (1-3, 5.52).
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