IL1 Indianapolis Indians

Wild First Frame Leads Tribe Past Mud Hens 4-2

June 29, 2012 - International League (IL1)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


INDIANAPOLIS -- The Indians took advantage of a pair of Toledo errors to plate three runs in a wild first inning en route to a 4-2 win in Friday night's series finale against the Mud Hens in front of 11,704 fans at Victory Field in downtown Indianapolis.

SS Chase d'Arnaud led off the bottom of the first with a line drive single to center, advancing to second on a walk by LF Gorkys Hernandez. CF Starling Marte then laid down a bunt single and advanced all the way to third when the throw to first got away and rolled down the right-field line. Both d'Arnaud and Hernandez scored on the play to give Indianapolis a 2-0 lead, but Marte was not credited with an RBI due to the error.

Batting next, 1B Matt Hague grounded a ball to third that was misplayed, allowing Hague to reach base and Marte to cross the plate to make it 3-0 Indians. Again, no RBI was awarded Hague because of the error.

Three and a half scoreless innings later, Indianapolis scored an important insurance run in the bottom of the fifth. RF Brandon Boggs led off the frame with a single to center field and advanced to second on a groundout by C Tony Sanchez. After a flyout, Hernandez smacked a two-out single to left field to drive in Boggs -- the Tribe's only RBI of the game -- to make it 4-0.

Indians starter Jeff Locke (6.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 6 K) was quietly effective, scattering four hits and recording six strikeouts en route to his sixth win of the season. After Locke had stymied the Mud Hens for six scoreless innings, Toledo finally broke through for a pair of runs in the top of the eighth against righty reliever Daniel McCutchen, who had thrown a scoreless seventh.

In the eighth, Toledo CF Justin Henry tripled to the right-center-field gap, promptly scoring on a wild pitch. RF Ben Guez then hit a triple of his own to straightaway center, eventually scoring on a groundout. After a two-out single by 1B Ryan Strieby, McCutchen (1.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 0 K) exited the game in favor of closer Tim Wood, who induced a flyout to stop the bleeding and preserve a 4-2 Indianapolis lead.

Wood (1.1 IP, 1 H) returned for the ninth to earn his 11th save and close out the Tribe's 50th win of the year. At 50-31, Indianapolis has recorded its best start to a season through 81 games in the Victory Field era, dating back to 1996.

The Indians (50-31) hit the road for the first three games of a five-game home-and-home with Louisville, with the first pitch of the series scheduled for 6:05 p.m. Saturday at Louisville Slugger Field. RHP Daniel Cabrera (3-3, 4.78) will likely start for Indianapolis, while the Bats are expected to counter with RHP Chad Reineke (3-5, 4.19).

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 5:45 p.m.

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Post-game quotes -- LHP Jeff Locke

(On his victorious performance Friday night) "I was trying to establish a fastball down and away to the righties - there was only one lefty in the lineup tonight - getting that fastball back inside to the righties off the plate to let them know that I'm not just going to live outside, but I'm going to come in, too. I was able to throw my changeup for strikes, continue to throw my breaking ball well. That's kind of been there for a month or so. Tony Sanchez did a hell of a job back there today and we had some phenomenal plays in the outfield and some plays by the infielders that maybe are not routine, but they make them look routine. Definitely a group effort tonight."

(On his string of good performances at night this season) "I've always been told that I'm a big day-game guy. I don't know if we never played night games in New Hampshire growing up. But there's something about the night games. When they flip the lights on, it's showtime and it's time to go. Your adrenaline gets flowing a little bit better. The fans are on their feet, there's always a better turnout at night. The fans are so unbelievable every night, it seems like there's 10,000 people here. It's definitely good to look around the outfield and stands and see all the support."

(On the team's dominance at home this season) "For the pitching staff, it's a big park. It's definitely the biggest in the league, maybe the biggest in AAA. I'll tell you what, there's not a ball you can throw out there in the outfield that (center fielder Starling) Marte and (left fielder) Gorkys (Hernandez) or even (right fielders Brandon) Boggs or (Jeff) Larish can't get to. Being able to play in that big park and always having the kind of fans behind us that we always have pumps up everybody and gets everybody going in the same direction."

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