Indians Get Back to .500, Hold Memphis Bats Quiet Again, 6-1

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – On the heels of a shutout win, the Indianapolis Indians pitching staff limited the Memphis Redbirds to just four hits in a 6-1 win at AutoZone Park on Saturday night for their ninth win in 13 games.

The Indians (54-54) wasted no time getting to Cardinals top pitching prospect Matthew Liberatore (L, 5-5) in the top of the first, with right fielder Diego Castillo lining a one-out single to center before designated hitter Cal Mitchell blasted a two-run home run to right-center field for his sixth homer as an Indian this season.

Indianapolis plated two more runs in the third inning on a double that one-hopped over the wall in left-center field from second baseman Kevin Padlo and an RBI groundout from left fielder Travis Swaggerty. In the sixth, third baseman Hoy Park scored after stealing second base and two subsequent throwing errors, and catcher Jamie Ritchie came in on a looped single to shallow center from Castillo.

After Indians starter Jerad Eickhoff threw 3.0 perfect innings with five strikeouts to open the game, right-hander Mike Burrows (W, 1-3) worked 4.0 scoreless innings before the Redbirds (57-52) finally infiltrated the scoring column with designated hitter Moises Gomez’s minor league-leading 31st home run to lead off the bottom of the seventh.

Three Indianapolis hitters had multi-hit nights, including 3-for-5 nights for Castillo and Padlo. Padlo, playing in his fourth game with Indianapolis, has now started his Indians career 8-for-15 (.533 average).

With the win, the Indians now sit at an even .500 for the first time since July 1, when the team was in Nashville for a six-game series against the division-leading Sounds. After shutting out the Redbirds last night, the one run allowed over the last two games is the fewest by Indians pitching over a two-game stretch since April 12-13 @ St. Paul; on April 12, the game was shortened to 5.0 innings due to weather.

The Indians and Redbirds conclude their series on Sunday afternoon at AutoZone Park, with first pitch scheduled for 3:05 PM ET. RHP Miguel Yajure (2-3, 6.81) gets the ball for Indianapolis against Memphis RHP Thomas Parsons (7-3, 4.84) in a starting pitching rematch of the series opener on Tuesday.