Indians Offense Heats Up Early, Routs Omaha 12-1

INDIANAPOLIS – A four-run first and a pair of three-run frames – the second of which was highlighted by a Jack Suwinski three-run blast – propelled the Indianapolis Indians to a 12-1 win over the Omaha Storm Chasers on Saturday night at Victory Field.

The Indians (45-34) came out swinging in the bottom half of the first frame, with the first six batters reaching safely. Ronny Simon drew a lead-off walk, and four consecutive singles off the bats of Ji Hwan Bae, Billy Cook, Jack Suwinski and Nick Yorke sent three runs across the plate. Malcom Nuñez broke up the singles by reaching on a fielder’s choice to set up a Liover Peguero sacrifice fly to cap the inning’s scoring.

The home half of the second started similarly to the first, with Simon reaching on a lead-off walk and a Bae single. A wild pitch by John Gant (L, 1-2) brought Simon home, Yorke connected for his second RBI single and Nuñez sent an RBI double to left to give the Indians a 7-1 early advantage.

Peguero added a pair of insurance runs in the fifth with his fourth long ball of the season and an RBI single in the seventh. Suwinski put an exclamation point on the night with a three-run shot over the left field wall in the eighth.

The Storm Chasers’ (33-46) lone run of the contest was a bases-loaded walk issued to Joey Wiemer in the opening frame.

Bubba Chandler tossed 3.1 innings, striking out six batters while walking four and yielding a run on three hits. Indians relievers Randy Labaut, Dauri Moreta (W, 2-0) and Burch Smith combined for 5.2 shutout innings, with Moreta striking out four of the six batters he faced.

Indianapolis and Omaha conclude their six-game set on Sunday afternoon at 1:35 PM. Southpaw Hunter Barco (2-1, 4.21) will toe the rubber for the Indians and RHP Thomas Hatch (3-5, 5.20) will counter for the Storm Chasers.