IL1 Indianapolis Indians

Yankees overpower Indians 7-5

Published on May 4, 2009 under International League (IL1)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


INDIANAPOLIS -- Second baseman Kevin Russo and left fielder John Rodriguez combined to go 6-for-9 with two runs and six RBI as the International League leading Scranton Wilkes-Barre Yankees registered a 7-5 victory over the Indianapolis Indians Monday evening at Victory Field.

With the win the Yankees improve to a professional baseball best 20-4 on the season and 12-1 on the road, while the loss drops the Indians to 10-13 overall and 5-9 at home. The win gives Scranton/Wilkes-Barre a 1-0 series lead and helps them maintain their five game lead in the IL north.

After the Indians jumped out to an early 3-0 lead, Yankee's C P.J. Pilittere and Russo roped back-to-back singles, before Rodriguez quickly tied the game with a three-run blast to right field in the fifth inning. DH Shelley Duncan followed later in the inning with a solo long ball to left field for his International League leading 10th homer of the season to give the Yankees their first lead of the game at 4-3.

Though Indianapolis took back the lead with two runs in the bottom of the fifth, the Yankees answered with a run in the seventh and sealed the deal with two more in the eighth.

Pilittere and Russo got the Scranton offense rolling again in the seventh with a double and bunt single, before Rodriguez again provided the scoring blow with a sacrifice fly that plated Pilittere and knotted the score at five. Russo then sealed the victory for the Yankees with a two-run single in the eighth that plated 1B Juan Miranda and SS Doug Bernier.

The game-winning base knock for Russo was his fourth hit of the game as he led a Scranton offense that pounded out 15 hits. The seven runs and 15 base knocks added to the Yankees International League leading offense that paces the League in 10 offensive categories, including batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, hits, runs, doubles, home runs, RBI, total bases and walks.

John Rodriguez, the other Rodriguez in the Yankees system, along with Russo managed to drive in five of the club's seven runs, while Duncan, the reigning IL player of the week, provided the other offense with his solo shot that also increased his IL leading RBI and run scoring totals to 29 and 26.

Russo (4-of-5, 1 R, 2 RBI), Rodriguez (2-for-4, 1 R, 4 RBI), Miranda (2-for-4, 1 R), Pilittere (2-for-3, 1 R) and CF Austin Jackson (2-for-5) all collected multiple hits for the Yankees, while only 3B Neil Walker (3-for-5, 1 R, 2 RBI) turned in a multi-hit effort for the Indians.

The Tribe jumped out to an early lead with three runs over the first three innings as C Erik Kratz drove in Walker with a two-out double in the second, before Walker blasted a two-out double of his own in the third to score CF Andrew McCutchen and RF Jeff Salazar. Walker broke out of his recent slump with three hits in five at-bats as well as two RBI and a stolen base.

But Walker wasn't the only one stealing the show as four other Indians recorded at least one stolen base on their way to a new Victory Field record of nine stolen bases. Along with Walker's steal, McCutchen, RF Garrett Jones and 1B Steve Pearce each swiped two, while Salazar grabbed three to move into a tie for second place in the IL with eight on the season

Steals also helped the Tribe plate their other two runs as in the fifth inning Salazar singled to lead off the inning before Jones roped a single of his own and stole second to set up Pearce, who drove in Salazar with a base hit. Jones then stole home as the Indian's pulled off a double steal that also moved Pearce to second.

Scranton RHP Anthony Claggett (1.2 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 2 SO) picked up the win in relief to improve to 3-0 on the season, while closer Brett Tomko (1.0 IP) tossed a perfect ninth for his fourth save of the year. Tribe reliever Brian Slocum (2.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO) took the loss to fall to 0-1 on the season

Neither starter -- Indianapolis RHP Virgil Vasquez (7.0 IP, 11 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 0 BB, 6 SO) or Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RHP George Kontos (4.1 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 4 SO) -- figured in the decision.

Indianapolis continues their four-game series with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. RHP Jason Davis is scheduled to start for Indianapolis, while LHP Kei Igawa is expected to get the nod for the Yankees.

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 6:40 p.m.

Post-game quotes -- INF Neil Walker

(on the importance of his three-hit performance) "It's good confidence wise for me, but also it's good because I've felt like I haven't helped this team as much I would like to offensively lately. It's always a positive thing to do what you can and to play well to help your team out."

(on the team's nine steals in the game) "It was us just being a little bit aggressive trying to take advantage of some of their defensive miscues and them maybe not paying as much attention to us. That's what were going to do we are going to come into a game and try to steal a lot of bags and be aggressive so we can end up stealing a lot of bases."

(on competing with Scranton's powerful offense) "It's a two way street, we definitely feel we are going to have to score some runs and do well offensively to win against these guys. That has nothing to do with our pitching staff, our staff is great, it has a lot more to do with their offense just being that good. At the same time we definitely feel like if we go out there and we execute and do what we are trying to do and also put together some timely hits we can win on any night."

Check out the Indianapolis Indians Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



International League Stories from May 4, 2009


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central