Tribe Holds off Clippers to Secure Series with 5-4 Win
Published on August 12, 2012 under International League (IL1)
Indianapolis Indians News Release
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Indianapolis Indians jumped out to an early advantage with a four-run second inning and held off a late surge by the Columbus Clippers to earn a 5-4 win that gave them a key 2-1 series victory over their division rivals on Sunday night at Huntington Park.
After splitting the first two games of their three-game set behind superb pitching performances by Columbus starter Roberto Hernandez in game one and Indianapolis hurler Chris Leroux in game two, the Indians and Clippers would trade early and late rallies in what proved to be an exciting rubber match on Sunday night.
On a night where the Indians collected 13 hits, 11 of which were singles, 3B Yamaico Navarro began the scoring with one of the Tribe's two extra-base knocks when he connected on a solo home run for the second straight night, this one clearing the wall in left-center field with one out in the top of the second. The longball for Navarro was his eighth on the season and gave him homers in back-to-back contests for the first time this season.
Following the blast Tribe C Tony Sanchez would draw a base-on-balls and LF Brandon Boggs would reach on an infield single, before a fly out moved to the duo up to second and third with two outs.
The Indians then came through with back-to-back-to-back two-out singles to center to tack on three more tallies and extend their advantage to 4-0. CF Alex Presley began the run of two-out base knocks by roping a single center to plate both Sanchez and Boggs, before 2B Brock Holt and RF Jose Tabata followed with base hits of their to eventually bring home Presley.
Despite finding themselves in an early 4-0 hole, Columbus would not go away quietly, as the Clippers cut into the Indianapolis lead with singles scores in the third and sixth innings. Former Indians' C Luke Carlin began the scoring for the Clippers when he lined a one-out double to center in the top of third and came quickly plateward when CF Aaron Cunningham followed with a two-bagger of his own.
RF Vinny Rottino then continued his excellent showing against Tribe pitching this season as he cut the Indians lead to 4-2 with a sacrifice fly to center in the bottom of the sixth that plated LF Tim Fedroff, who led off the frame with a triple. The RBI for Rottino was his 16th in 13 games against the Indians this season combined between his time in Buffalo and Columbus.
Yet Indianapolis would extend their advantage by once again coming through with three consecutive base hits to push across what proved to be the decisive tally in the top of the seventh. Holt and Tabata, who led all batters with three this apiece on the evening, began the rally with an infield single and base knock to right, before 1B Matt Hague capped the back-to-back-to-back base hits by bringing home Holt to extend the Tribe advantage to 5-2.
The powerful Columbus offense continued to surge however as they brought home two more scores in the bottom of the seventh to cut the deficit to 5-4.
The Clippers began the rally with back-to-back doubles by 3B Russ Canzler and 1B Lars Anderson with Anderson's two-bagger plating Canzler to cut the Tribe lead to 5-3. Anderson would eventually score himself later in the frame on an RBI groundout off the bat of Cunningham that drew the Clippers with-in one and set the stage for an exciting final two frames.
Though Columbus would threaten with a two-out triple by Canzler in the eighth and one-out base hit by Carlin in the ninth, Tribe closer Tim Wood (2.0 IP, 2 H, 1 SO) would close the door on the victory with an impressive two-inning save. Wood's 17th save of the season came in support of Tribe starter Daniel Cabrera (6.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 7 SO) who turned in an excellent bounce-back effort by striking out seven over six innings to earn the victory and improve to 6-6 on the season.
Columbus starter Matt Packer (6.1 IP, 10 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 4 SO) suffered the loss to fall to 0-2 after surrendering all five Indians' scores on 10 hits and two walks over 6.1 innings. Columbus relievers Matt Langwell (0.2 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 1 SO), Tyler Sturdevant (0.2 IP, 1 BB), Scott Barnes (0.1 IP, 1 H, 1 SO) and Dan Wheeler (1.0 IP, 2 BB) combined for 2.2 innings of scoreless work in a losing effort.
The victory for the Indians (74-49) pushes their lead over the Clippers back to double digits at 10 games and drops the Tribe's magic number for a West Division crown to 12.
Following a day off on Monday the Indians will continue their road trip with eight-games in New York, beginning with a four-game series against the Rochester Red Wings. RHP Kyle McPherson hopes to build on his fantastic Triple-A debut for the Indians when he takes the mound in the series opener on Tuesday night at 7:05 p.m., while the Red Wings have yet to name a starter to oppose him.
The game will be carried on WNDE 1260 AM-WFBQ-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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Post-game quotes -- RHP Tim Wood
(on going for a two-inning save) "I just like getting outs. I never turn down the ball whenever Dean (Indians' manager Dean Treanor) gives it to me. I had a few days off so I was able to go out there and get two innings and get the job done and get a nice series victory."
(on taking two of three in Columbus) "It was nice to come in here and get two victories and win the series and get that magic number down even lower."
(On if the team is thinking playoffs with the magic number down to 12) "Everyone wants to clinch, but we just have to take it one game at a time. We are not going to the playoffs until we get that magic number down to zero. So we are going to go out here every single night and compete and get that magic number as low as possible and hopefully get into the playoffs."
International League Stories from August 12, 2012
- PawSox Look Flat in Loss to Buffalo - Pawtucket Red Sox
- Tribe Holds off Clippers to Secure Series with 5-4 Win - Indianapolis Indians
- Tommy Hanson, G-Braves Silence Bats, 5-2 - Gwinnett Stripers
- Chiefs Split Doubleheader with Yankees - Syracuse Mets
- Yankees Shutout Chiefs in Game Two 1-0, Split Twin-Bill - Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees
- Knights Rip Tides 8-6 on Sunday - Charlotte Knights
- IronPigs Game Notes - Lehigh Valley IronPigs
- Rochester Red Wings Game Notes - Sunday, August 12 at Lehigh Valley (Phillies) - Rochester Red Wings
- Bisons Notes - Pawtucket at Buffalo (6:05 P.M.) - Buffalo Bisons
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