The results were mixed. The hard-throwing left-hander only allowed an unearned run on three hits while striking out eight over 5 1/3 innings for his first victory in Louisville's 7-1 rout at Indianapolis on Thursday night. But he walked five and threw two wild pitches.

Chapman (1-1) left the game with a 4-1 lead after throwing 95 pitches -- 54 of them for strikes. He also singled to left field to lead off the fifth.

He did not pitch past the fifth inning in his previous two starts, but the career-high five walks brought him to his pitch count limit early in the sixth.

Indianapolis' Jose Tabata drew a walk to lead off the first, but was promptly picked off by Chapman. After fanning Neil Walker, Chapman yielded a single to Pedro Alvarez and another walk to Steve Pearce. The young left-hander uncorked a wild pitch before fanning the Indians' Brandon Moss to end the threat.

Chapman ran into trouble again in the second, allowing a leadoff double to Luke Carlin and a walk to Doug Bernier. Louisville catcher Wilkin Castillo made a throwing error as Carlin stole third and then trotted home on the play before Chapman set down the next three batters, two of them on strikeouts.

The Cuban émigré allowed a baserunner in each of the next three innings -- two via walks and one on a single -- and tossed another wild pitch, but was not seriously threatened. He was lifted after striking out Moss to open the sixth.

Third baseman Juan Francisco led the Bats' offense with a solo homer -- his first of the season -- and an RBI double.