Best Games, No. 9: Tribe Top Toledo in Back-and-Forth Affair

INDIANAPOLIS - Riding a six-game winning streak and atop the IL West entering play on May 20, the Indianapolis Indians found a way to beat the visiting Toledo Mud Hens, 8-7, despite three defensive errors, five walks and 13 hits surrendered. Jason Rogers played a significant role in the victory going 3-for-4 with a home run and three RBI.

Toledo capitalized on all three of Indy's defensive miscues, including a two-out error by Barrett Barnes in the first. That E-7 led to consecutive run-scoring singles by Bryan Holaday and Jason Krizan.
The Tribe leveled the score in the second as Rogers and Phil Gosselin singles preceded a two-run knock by Erich Weiss. Toledo regained the lead in its following at-bat, however, as a Gosselin error at short set up an RBI double by Holaday and an eventual double steal that plated another run.
Trailing 4-2 going to the bottom of the third, Rogers cranked a Buck Farmer 1-0 curveball with two down onto the left-field berm for his fifth home run to pull Indy even once more.
The score remained 4-4 until the sixth when a walk, fielding error by Joey Terdoslavich and double by Brendan Ryan made it 5-4. The visitors threatened for more in that frame, but Dan Runzler induced a 6-4-3 double play with the bases juiced to limit the damage.
The Indians hung a crooked number after the stretch to go up 8-5. Weiss was hit by pitch to start the inning and Terdoslavich then worked a walk. Following a Barnes sacrifice bunt and groundout off the bat of Christopher Bostick, Austin Meadows laced a two-out, two-run double off veteran Edward Mujica to put Indy in front, 6-5. The Tribe later executed a double steal resulting in a throwing error that made it 7-5, and Rogers capped the four-run outburst with an RBI single to right.
Down to one last reliever due to a doubleheader the day prior, Tribe skipper Andy Barkett was forced to ride the right arm of Pat Light for the final two innings. The 26-year-old pitched around back-to-back singles with two outs in the eighth to keep the score at 8-5, but it was the ninth where the New Jersey native had to sweat most.
He allowed four singles in the ninth - the last by Logan Watkins that brought Toledo within one - but a fielder's choice on Light's 50^th pitch of the night ended the game and gave him his second save. His 50-pitch performance marked his highest pitch count since the 2014 season.
The resilient win was Indy's seventh straight, improved its record to 23-18 and extended the division lead to three games.