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IL1 Indianapolis Indians

Tides Topple Tribe 3-2 in Thirteen

May 3, 2012 - International League (IL1)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


NORFOLK, Va. --Center fielder Xavier Avery ended a marathon three hour and 53 minute contest with a walk-off single in the bottom of the 13th, scoring second baseman Ryan Adams to give the Norfolk Tides a 3-2 victory over the Indianapolis Indians on Thursday night at Harbor Park.

After both teams failed to produce any offense from the eighth through the 11th inning, the Indians would have a golden opportunity to pull ahead in the top of the 12th. CF Starling Marte and 2B Anderson Hernandez began the rally try by reaching on back-to-back one-out errors by Norfolk.

A wild pitch would then push Marte and Hernandez into scoring position for the heart of the Indians order. However, Norfolk reliever Pat Neshek would retire 3B Matt Hague and 1B Miles Durham to end the Tribe rally and set the stage for Avery's game-winner in the bottom of the 13th.

Hours earlier the contest began with two excellent efforts from the starting pitchers.

Despite not figuring in the final decision, Tribe starter Rudy Owens (8.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 SO) turned in another spectacular effort for the Tribe as the southpaw starter struck out a season best seven over a season high eight innings. Though he has just one victory on the season, Owens boasts an impeccable 2.12 ERA and jaw-dropping 26 to 2 strikeout to walk ratio, while his miniscule 0.77 WHIP continues to lead the International League.

Norfolk's starter, major league veteran Joel Pineiro (6.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 SO), matched Owens with his own strong showing on the mound as the Tides right hander allowed just one run on three hits, while striking out five over six innings. However, just like Owens, Pineiro would not figure in the final decision as the two teams battled into extra innings.

The contest would ultimately be decided by the bullpens which featured strong performances from relievers on both sides. Indians reliever Tim Wood (3.0 IP, 1 BB, 1 SO) was nearly perfect in his three innings of scoreless relief, while RHP Jose Diaz (1.0 IP, 2 SO) struck out two in his own scoreless frame of work,

On the Norfolk side, reliever Miguel Socolovich (2.0 IP, 3 H, 1 BB, 3 SO) provided two scoreless innings of work, while Neshek (2.0 IP, 1 SO) worked around two Tides miscues in the 12th to come away with away with his first victory of the season. Tribe left hander Daniel Moskos (0.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER) was charged with the loss to fall to 0-2 on the season.

Former Indians infielder and major league veteran Bill Hall provided all of the Tides regulation scoring on Wednesday night, beginning with his second longball of the season to lead-off the second inning. Then after the Tribe evened the score in the fourth, Hall gave the Norfolk back the lead in the sixth with a clutch two-out base hit to center to plate SS Steve Tolleson, who doubled earlier in the frame.

Hall remains red hot at the plate for the Tides as he has now hit safely in six straight contests dating back to April 28. During his streak the right handed slugger has hit .385 (10-for-26) with six runs, two doubles, two home runs and four RBI.

While Hall led the Tides' offensive attack, 1B Jake Fox was the Indians early offensive star driving in a run in the fourth and scoring an equalizer in the seventh. Fox used a two-out two-bagger to plate 3B Matt Hague in the fourth, before drawing a base-on-balls and trotting home on a double by DH Jeff Clement in the seventh.

Since coming off the disabled list on April 21, Fox has been the Tribe's hottest hitter, collecting a base knock in all but one contest in which he has started. Overall on the season, Fox is now hitting .407 (11-for-27) with four runs, six doubles, a home run and seven RBI in just 10 games played.

The Indians and Tides now wrap up their four-game series on Friday night at 7:15 p.m. Indianapolis LHP Justin Wilson is scheduled to make his first start since his no-hit effort in Durham, while Norfolk is expected to counter with RHP Steve Johnson.

The contest will be carried on WNDE 1260 AM, 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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