Indians Draw Victory Field Era Record 17 Walks in Win over Storm Chasers
PAPILLION, Neb. – The Indianapolis Indians took advantage of 17 walks at the hands of the Omaha Storm Chasers by tallying 11 hits and a season-high 12 RBI – seven coming with two outs – to earn their first win of the six-game series at Werner Park on Thursday night,
PAPILLION, Neb. – The Indianapolis Indians took advantage of 17 walks at the hands of the Omaha Storm Chasers by tallying 11 hits and a season-high 12 RBI – seven coming with two outs – to earn their first win of the six-game series at Werner Park on Thursday night, 12-5.
The 17 free passes by Omaha (9-8) set a Victory Field era record for an Indians (5-13) opponent, with the previous record of 15 set by Louisville on May 5, 2022 (game suspended and completed on May 7) at the Vic. Each of Indy’s nine batters drew at least one walk, with Tyler Callihan, Ronny Simon and Rafael Flores Jr. leading the team with three apiece.
With the game knotted at 3-3 through five innings after the Indians came back from a 2-0 deficit, the walks and runs began to add up to give Indy an insurmountable lead in the sixth and seventh. A Nick Cimillo solo home run against Helcris Olivárez (L, 0-1) began the onslaught of runs before back-to-back two-out walks came around to score on a double into right field by Endy Rodríguez.
Ethan Bosacker worked around the final two of five total walks in the sixth inning before four free passes by Brandon Johnson led to four of six runs being scored in the seventh. The Indians’ first two runners on base reached safely via walk before back-to-back bases-loaded base-on-balls to Esmerlyn Valdez and Rodríguez brought them home. An RBI single by Davis Wendzel, run-scoring groundout and two-run single by Termarr Johnson extended Indy’s lead to 12-4.
Down by two runs in the third inning, the Indians got on the board with two outs thanks to Rodríguez’s first of three hits and four RBI. Wendzel followed it up with a double to tie the game, and finished the night tied with Rodríguez with a team-leading three hits.
Antwone Kelly got the start for the Indians and held the Storm Chasers to three runs over 4.2 innings before Brandan Bidois (W, 1-2) entered to get the final out of the fifth. Michael Darrell-Hicks shut down any Omaha advances with 1.2 scoreless innings to cap the victory.
The Indians will look to tie the series with Omaha tomorrow night at 7:35 PM ET at Werner Park. RHP Thomas Harrington (0-2, 2.84) is set to make his second start of the season for Indy against LHP Ryan Ramsey (1-2, 4.97).