Indians Drop Back-and-Forth Battle to St. Paul
INDIANAPOLIS – Dominic Fletcher launched the Indianapolis Indians first home run of the season and Alika Williams recorded two extra-base hits with two RBI in a 9-7 loss to the St. Paul Saints on Saturday afternoon at Victory Field.
INDIANAPOLIS – Dominic Fletcher launched the Indianapolis Indians first home run of the season and Alika Williams recorded two extra-base hits with two RBI in a 9-7 loss to the St. Paul Saints on Saturday afternoon at Victory Field.
Ryan Kreidler and Kyler Fedko opened the scoring for the Saints (2-0) in the second inning, each recording an RBI single for a 2-0 lead.
Fletcher then put the Indians (0-2) on the board with a 394-foot solo shot in the third inning off St. Paul starter Zebby Matthews. Konnor Griffin kickstarted a game-tying rally later in the inning, beating out an infield single, stealing second base and scampering home on a run-scoring single from Ronny Simon.
Indy took a 5-2 lead in the fourth inning with complimentary baseball across the lineup. Enmanuel Valdez walked to start the rush, with Termarr Johnson dropping a sacrifice bunt to advance him. Esmerlyn Valdez singled to put runners at the corners and Fletcher struck again with an RBI double down the line, and Williams capped the flurry with a two-run triple to the wall in deep left-center field.
St. Paul quickly punched back with a three-run, game-tying home run from Kaelen Culpepper in the top of the fifth for a 5-5 score. The Saints tacked on two more runs in the sixth inning off reliever Mike Clevinger, and the Indians again knotted the game, 7-7, in the bottom of the eighth inning. Griffin drew an RBI walk and Simon evened the score with a sacrifice fly.
Alan Roden gave the Saints 9-7 lead in the ninth inning with a two-run double off Brandan Bidois (L, 0-1), and Marco Raya (S, 1) blanked the Indians to end the game.
Indians starting pitcher Nick Dombkowski and Matthews each allowed five runs across 4.0 innings. Trent Baker (W, 1-0) allowed two Indy runs prior to St. Paul’s ninth inning rally.
The three-game series between Indy and St. Paul concludes on Sunday afternoon at 1:35 PM. RHP Antwone Kelly (0-0, -.--), the Pirates No. 9 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, is set for his Triple-A debut while RHP Andrew Morris (0-0, -.--) is on the mound for the Saints.