Glasnow Throws Six Strong in Tribe Triumph

TOLEDO, OHIO - The Indians plated three runs in the first inning to back Tyler Glasnow's six shutout frames as Indianapolis hung on in a 5-4 nail-biter over the Toledo Mud Hens on Friday night at Fifth Third Field. Glasnow's outing was his third this season of six-plus scoreless innings.

Indianapolis (78-61) jumped Mud Hens starter Matt Crouse for three runs in the first inning after the southpaw retired the first two batters he faced. With two down, Christopher Bostick reached on an infield single before a Joey Terdoslavich walk. Edwin Espinal, Danny Ortiz and Eric Wood then strung together three consecutive RBI singles.
The run support was enough for Glasnow who had received just 11 runs of support over his previous five starts combined. The 24-year-old bookended the bottom of the first with strikeouts en route to nine punchouts on the night.
Toledo (68-70) saw its deficit widen as Indy scored one apiece in the third and fourth. Ortiz was credited with a sacrifice fly on a nice leaping catch by Mud Hens right fielder Mike Gerber at the wall, and a two-out RBI single by Erich Weiss in the fourth made it 5-0.
The Mud Hens avoided the shutout when they scored a pair in the eighth against Cody Dickson, and they nearly capped the comeback in their final at-bat against Tribe closer Edgar Santana. Two singles, a dropped fly ball and a sacrifice fly brought them within two at 5-3, and an Omar Infante single brought home another run to make it 5-4. With the bases loaded and one away, Santana struck out both Matt den Dekker and Tyler Collins to complete his eighth save.
Glasnow (9-2) scattered five hits and one walk while moving his strikeout total with the Tribe to 140 in 15 starts. He is on the verge of becoming the first pitcher to lead the Indians in strikeouts in consecutive seasons since Marty McLeary did so in 2006 (115) and 2007 (95). His 140 strikeouts are the most in a season by a Tribe hurler since Mark Gardner fanned 175 batters in 1989.
The Indians now sit a season-high 17 games over .500 with three games remaining in the regular season.
The Indians and Mud Hens play the second of their four-game series at Fifth Third Field on Saturday night. Right-hander Tyler Eppler (8-8, 4.86) will start for Indy with first pitch set for 7:05 p.m. The radio broadcast can be heard on Fox Sports 97.5 or AM 1260.