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IL1 Indianapolis Indians

Walker's Two-Run Double And Clement's Two Run Homer Lead Tribe

August 6, 2009 - International League (IL1)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


INDIANAPOLIS -- Third baseman Neil Walker's two-run double in the sixth tied the score at four before first baseman Jeff Clement launched a tie-breaking, two-run blast in the bottom of the seventh to lead the Indianapolis Indians past the Charlotte Knights 6-4 on Thursday night at Victory Field.

With the win the Indians improve to 54-57 on the season and 27-26 at home, while the Knights drop to 51-60 overall and 21-33 on the road with the loss. With the victory Indianapolis now leads the season series 3-2 with three games left between the two teams.

Down 4-2 heading into the sixth the Tribe put together two straight two-run innings behind the pair of extra-base hits by Walker and Clement. Clement led off the sixth with a single and was followed by DH Tagg Bozied who walked before Walker brought both runners around to tie the game at four with his two-bagger down the left field line.

Clement then came through in the clutch in the next inning with his first career long ball at Victory Field. With two outs in the seventh LF Brian Myrow reached on a bases on balls setting the stage for Clement to take his first pitch deep over the right field wall for what turned out to be the game-winning two-run long ball.

The first baseman's two-run blast was his fourth in six contests with Indianapolis, while Walker has now collected 13 RBI in his last six games. The Indians have lived off the long ball as of late as they have now won 13 of their last 20 games thanks in part to their 22 home runs in the same time span.

Despite doing most their scoring later in the game Indianapolis did jump out to a quick lead with a score in the bottom half of the first. RF Jose Tabata notched the first run of the contest after he singled with one out and then came plateward on an RBI double by Myrow.

The two-base hit would give the Tribe an early lead, but it wouldn't last long as Charlotte answered right back with two scores of their own in the very next frame. LF Michael Restovich led off the inning with his 15th long ball of the season, a solo home run to center field. Charlotte then took over the lead later in that frame as DH Wilson Betemit walked and came plateward on a double by C Tyler Flowers.

The Indians then evened the score at two as 2B Brian Bixler singled with one-out and then came around to score after Restovich misplayed a fly ball down the third baseline. However the Knights would answer back again as they scored a run in two straight innings to take the lead at 4-2.

Betemit would again come around to score as he led off the fourth with a double and was chased home in the very next at-bat on a single by SS Brent Lillibridge. Lillibridge then led off the very next frame with a walk and scored a run of his own after he stole second and trotted home on a single by 3B Josh Fields.

The back-to-back innings with a score gave the Knights the two score lead, but it wouldn't be enough as the Tribe answered with clutch hits and dominant work out of the bullpen.

After starting pitcher Phil Dumatrait (5.0 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 0 SO) gave up all four Charlotte runs in his five innings of work, Indians' relievers Ty Taubenheim (2.2 IP), Jeremy Powell (0.1 IP) and Chris Bootcheck (1.0 IP, 2 SO) combined to allow no hits or walks in there four scoreless innings of relief.

Dumatrait received a no decision, while Taubenheim earned the victory with his 2.2 scoreless innings and Bootcheck picked up the save with two strikeouts in a perfect ninth. Dumatrait's counterpart, Lucas Harrell (6.0 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO), earned a no decision after he gave up four runs over six innings, while Charlotte reliever Derek Rodriguez (1.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO) was handed the loss after he served up Clement's game-winning home run.

Clement (2-for-4, 2 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI), Tabata (2-for-4, 1 R) and Bozied (2-for-3, 1 R) all went on to collect multiple hits for the Tribe, while Clement also posted a multi-run and multi-RBI performance. Flowers (2-for-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI) recorded the only multi-hit game for the Knights with a single and a double.

Indianapolis will continue their four-game series with Charlotte on Friday at 7:15 p.m. RHP Virgil Vasquez is scheduled to start for the Indians, while a starter for the Knights has yet to be announced.

The contest will be carried by WXLW-950 AM and www.IndyIndians.com with Howard Kellman and Scott McCauley. The pre-game show begins at 6:55 p.m.

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