Indians Secure First Series Win in Nail-biter

Tribe walks tightrope in finale at Columbus

Eric Wood belted his third home run of 2017 in Sunday's 5-4 win at Columbus. (Photo by Adam Pintar)

By Cheyne Reiter

May 7, 2017

COLUMBUS, OHIO - The Indianapolis Indians overcame a season-high 11 walks issued by stranding 14 Columbus baserunners to secure their first series win of 2017 in a narrow 5-4 victory over the Clippers Sunday afternoon at Huntington Park. Jacob Stallings and Eric Wood each homered, the latter providing the decisive

COLUMBUS, OHIO - The Indianapolis Indians overcame a season-high 11 walks issued by stranding 14 Columbus baserunners to secure their first series win of 2017 in a narrow 5-4 victory over the Clippers Sunday afternoon at Huntington Park. Jacob Stallings and Eric Wood each homered, the latter providing the decisive insurance run in the eighth inning.

Indianapolis (10-16) pounced on Clippers right-hander Adam Plutko (0-5) in the first inning, capitalizing on a pair of walks. Austin Meadows and Max Moroff drew the free passes to start the frame, setting up a run-scoring double off the bat of Erich Weiss. Wood then made it 2-0 with a sacrifice fly to left.
Indy added a run in the following frame on Stallings' first home run of the season.
Tribe left-hander Cody Dickson - making his first career Triple-A start - finagled his way through three scoreless innings, stranding seven baserunners in the process. He worked around a two-out walk and double in the first, followed by two more walks left on the basepaths in the second. A bunt single and two additional walks in the third brought the go-ahead run to the dish, but Dickson struck out Columbus' Ronny Rodriguez to end the threat.
The Clippers (11-17) took advantage of a walk and two-base throwing error by Moroff in the fourth, leading to an unearned run against Brett McKinney (2-1). Indy's Joey Terdoslavich push the lead back to three in the sixth with a sacrifice fly that plated Danny Ortiz.
Richie Shaffer nearly brought Columbus back single-handedly, cutting the deficit to 4-2 with an RBI single in the seventh. After Wood homered in the eighth, Shaffer belted a two-out, two-run shot off Dovydas Neverauskas to make it 5-4. Following the blast, Neverauskas surrendered a walk and single before striking out Nellie Rodriguez to strand the tying and go-ahead runs on the bases.
McKinney earned the win with three innings in relief of Dickson, allowing just the one unearned run. Neverauskas was credited with his third save, while Plutko remained winless on the season after being charged with four runs (three earned) on seven hits over six frames.
Indianapolis returns to Victory Field for a seven-game homestand beginning Monday night against the Charlotte Knights. The Indians will send right-hander Drew Hutchison (0-1, 5.00) to the mound, opposite Knights right-hander Lucas Giolito (0-4, 7.33). First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m.