IL1 Indianapolis Indians

Tribe Beats Pawtucket 8-6 in 13 Innings

Published on June 9, 2012 under International League (IL1)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


PAWTUCKET, R.I. -- It took 13 innings on Friday night, but the Indians scored two runs on center fielder Starling Marte's first hit of the series and the Tribe finally secured an 8-6 win over the Pawtucket Red Sox as Indianapolis rode a three-hit performance by third baseman Yamaico Navarro and avoided a four-game sweep at McCoy Stadium.

The game-winning hit came nearly four hours and 40 minutes after the contest's first pitch as the Indians took their fourth lead of the game with a pair of runs in the top of the 13th inning. 2B Anderson Hernandez led off the frame with a walk and advanced to second on a sac bunt by SS Chase d'Arnaud, who reached on a throwing error on the play. Both runners advanced on a flyout-and-throwing-error before Marte came to the plate with one out.

On the first pitch of his at bat, Marte bounced a single over the third baseman's head and into left field, scoring both Hernandez and d'Arnaud to give the Indians their final 8-6 advantage. It was Marte's first hit of the series, but it proved to be both timely and opportunistic. Meanwhile, in his third inning of work, LHP Kris Johnson (3.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 0 K) induced three groundouts in a perfect bottom half of the 13th to picked up the win and improve to 3-0 on the season.

Indianapolis had jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the first inning against Pawtucket starter Daniel Bard, who struggled mightily in his first outing with the Triple-A Red Sox. Control an issue while trying to make the transition from reliever to starter for Boston this season, Bard (1.0 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 2 HB) continued that trend and hit d'Arnaud with a pitch to lead off the game.

d'Aranud stole second and moved to third when LF Gorkys Hernandez singled to right field before CF Starling Marte was also hit by a pitch, loading the bases for Indianapolis. d'Arnaud came plateward on a fielders choice to give the Indians a 1-0 lead before DH Jeff Larish doubled to drive in Gorkys Hernandez and 1B Jeff Clement. Bard, as expected, left the game after the first inning, but the Indians had taken a 3-0 lead.

Navarro helped extend the Tribe lead to 4-0 in the third inning, reaching on a single before eventually scoring on a single by RF Brandon Boggs. For the fourth night in a row, Indianapolis had taken an early lead on the Red Sox, and for the fourth night in a row Pawtucket would make that lead disappear.

In the bottom of the third, former Indians SS Pedro Ciriaco reached on an infield single to lead off the inning, advancing to second on a wild pitch before C Ryan Lavarnway drew a one-out walk. Enter 1B Mauro Gomez, who drove the ball over the right-field fence for his second home run of the series and 13th of the season, cutting the Indianapolis lead to 4-3.

That lead disappeared entirely in the bottom of the sixth inning, when 2B Tony Thomas lifted a two-out solo home run beyond the center-field wall to tie the game at 4-4. It was the fourth home run of the season for Thomas and the eighth home run of the series for the Red Sox.

The Indians, however, would regain the lead in the top of the seventh inning. Navarro, who has been nothing if not consistent since joining the Indians, has hit safely in every game for Indianapolis and had already extended his hitting streak to nine games with his third-inning single before stepping up to the plate in the seventh. With one out, Navarro launched a solo home run over the left-field fence to put Indianapolis up 5-4. The homer was Navarro's first since joining the Tribe but second of the season; he had one major league home run while playing with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

That lead would stand until the bottom of the ninth inning, when former Indians SS Pedro Ciriaco doubled to left and advanced to third on a wild pitch before scoring on a double by CF Ryan Kalish. The back-to-back two-baggers tied the game at 5-5 with one out and a runner on second for the Red Sox, but strikeout and groundout -- with an intentional walk sandwiched between -- ended the inning and sent the game into extra innings.

Neither team scored again until the 12th inning, when Navarro drew a one-out walk and stole second, advancing to third on a throwing error on the play. After a strikeout, RF Brandon Boggs doubled to right field to drive in Navarro and give the Indians a 6-5 lead.

That lead would not last long, however, as Pawtucket CF Che-Hsuan Lin led off the bottom of the frame with a triple down the right-field line. When Lin had done the exact same thing in the bottom of the 10th, he was stranded, but this time RF Josh Kroeger delivered, driving a one-out single to left to score Lin and tie the game at 6-6.

As evidenced by Pawtucket's resilience, it appeared Indianapolis would need a multi-run lead to pull out to win and avoid a series sweep, and Marte delivered upon that proposition with his game-winning two-run single in the 13th. While Johnson picked up the win for his effort, the loss eventually went to Pawtucket RHP Will Inman (2.0 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K), his first of the season.

The Indians (34-26) return to Indianapolis on Saturday night to start a four-game homestand against the Rochester Red Wings. The first pitch of game one is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. with the Tribe expected to send RHP Daniel Cabrera (2-1, 4.46) to the mound, while Rochester is expected to counter with Aussie RHP Liam Hendriks (4-0, 2.39).

The contest will be broadcast on HTSN, Hometown Sports and News, available on cable and over-the-air at channel 6.2. The game will also be carried on WNDE 1260 AM-WGBQ-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 6:45 p.m.

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