IL1 Indianapolis Indians

Yankees Sweep DoubleHeader From Indians

Published on May 7, 2009 under International League (IL1)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


INDIANAPOLIS -- The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees swept both games of Thursday's doubleheader over the Indianapolis Indians at Victory Field. OF Todd Linden's three-RBI performance led Scranton to a 7-2 win over the Tribe in the opener, while 1B Juan Miranda's three-run homer sealed the 9-3 victory for the Yankees in game two.

With the victories the Yankees improve to 22-5 on the season and 14-2 on the road, while the Indians fall to 11-15 overall and 6-11 at home. The wins for Scranton gives them a 3-1 series victory over the Tribe and increases their professional baseball best record to 22-5.

Scranton's International League leading offense came alive in the late innings of both of the seven inning games of the doubleheader as the Yankees drove in four runs in the sixth inning of game one and six in the seventh inning of game two.

The Yankees also jumped out to an early lead in both contests as 3B Chris Malec singled in Miranda in the second inning of game one, and INF Luis Nunez and INF Doug Bernier added RBI base knocks in the second frame of game two.

Scranton then extended their lead in the fourth inning of game one when Malec blasted a solo long ball to deep center field and Bernier followed with an RBI single to plate Nunez. Linden then put game one out of reach when he cleared the bases with a three-run double, and later came around to score himself on a single by RF John Rodriguez.

Then after taking the game one victory and jumping out to an early lead in game two, the Yankees broke a 3-3 tie, when they erupted for six runs in the final inning of game two.

C Chris Stewart started the rally for the Yankees with a double, before being lifted for pinch runner Eric Duncan, who came around to score when 2B Kevin Russo singled. Bernier then reached on a hit-by-pitch, before Linden roped a single to score Russo.

Miranda then provided game two's big blow when he rocketed a pitch over the right field wall for a three-run homer that give the Yankees a commanding 9-3 lead. The home run was the sixth of the season for Miranda and the IL leading 31st of the year for Scranton.

The Indians plated their two runs in game one on six hits, led by C Erik Kratz, who went 3-for-3 and drove in the first Tribe run in the fifth with a RBI single, and later scored the second run after reaching on a double in the seventh. Kratz also stole his third base of the year and recorded two doubles in three at-bats in game one.

DH Steve Pearce jump started the Indian's offense in game two when he belted a solo shot to left field in second inning for his team-leading fifth long ball of the season. Pearce later singled in the fourth and finished the contest 2-for-2 with a walk to record the Tribe's only multi-hit performance in game two of the doubleheader.

The Tribe pulled even at 3-3 with two runs in fifth as CF Andrew McCutchen broke out of his recent slump with an RBI single to score INF Luis Cruz, and 2B Shelby Ford brought home C Miguel Perez with a sacrifice fly after Perez drew a base-on-balls.

However, Indianapolis was unable to overcome both of Scranton's late inning rallies and dropped both of games of the doubleheader as well as the overall series to the Yankees.

Yankees' starter Casey Fossum (5.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO) allowed just one run over five innings in game one to pick up the win and improve to 1-0 on the season, while Tribe game one starter Ty Taubenheim (3.2 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 5 SO) allowed three runs in just over three innings of work to take the loss and drop to 0-3 on the year.

Game two was decided by the bullpens as Scranton LHP Zach Kroenke (1.2 IP, 1 BB, 1 SO) tossed 1.2 hitless innings to get the win and improve to a perfect 3-0 on the season, and Indians' reliever Juan Mateo (0.1 IP, 4 H, 5 R , 5 ER,) allowed five runs on four hits in just a third of inning to take the loss and drop to 1-1 in 2009.

Neither starter figured in the decision of game two as Indianapolis LHP Tom Gorzelanny (6.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 8 SO) struck out an Indian's season high eight batters in six innings, and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RHP Steven Jackson (4.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO) allowed just one run in his four innings of work.

Indianapolis begins a four game series at Syracuse on Friday at 7:00 p.m. RHP Daniel McCutchen is scheduled to start for Indianapolis, while RHP Marco Estrada is expected to get the nod for Syracuse. The four game set with the Chiefs will begin an eight game road trip for the Indians.

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.

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Post-game quotes -- C Erik Kratz

(on his three-hit performance in Game 1 of Thursday's doubleheader) "I was just trying to stay inside the ball and stay through it. I was trying to react to the pitches that I was seeing and just tried to trust myself and fortunately I was able to get some hits."

(on his two steals in the series against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre) "I basically just wanted to take a shot in certain situations especially in the close games. I'm not going to score from first very often so those opportunities when the other team may not be paying attention I had to take advantage of and put myself in scoring position."

(on the effect of doubleheaders) "The weather itself definitely plays a factor in games. If you have a doubleheader you just hope that you have a day off the day before, but we've had to spend a lot of time at the field the days before doubleheaders because of weather so that definitely takes a toll."

(on the series against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre) "We fought hard and we were able to stay close in this series and stay close against a really good team. The final score of the last game didn't show how close it really was because they got some late runs, but it was good we stayed close and fought against a very good team."

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International League Stories from May 7, 2009


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