Indians Open Doubleheader with Dominant Offensive Victory

ST. PAUL, Minn. – A season-high 16 runs and Mason Martin’s fifth homer in a six-game span lifted the Indianapolis Indians to a Game 1 win over St. Paul in Wednesday night’s doubleheader, 16-10. The Saints emerged victorious in a back-and-forth Game 2, 5-3.

Martin drove in a season-high five RBI, and his seventh-inning shot extended his home run streak to three consecutive games. Ji-Hwan Bae and Bligh Madris each recorded a team-leading three hits in the win, with two of Madris’ knocks coming for extra bases.

Already with a 1-0 lead in Game 1 following an RBI double off the bat of Madris in the second inning, the Indians (23-20) sent 12 batters to the plate and scored eight runs on seven hits in the fourth to take a lofty 9-0 lead. Bae led off with a single and with one out, back-to-back walks loaded the bases. Four RBI singles from Indy’s next five batters – Cole Tucker, Jamie Ritchie, Hoy Park and Travis Swaggerty – plated the first five runs of the frame.

Bae then came to the plate for the second time in the inning and roped an RBI double down the right-field line to score another. Martin capped the scoring with a two-run single to plate his first of five RBI in the 7.0-inning contest.

A bases-clearing double off the bat of Jermaine Palacios with two outs in the bottom of the fourth inning capped off a four-run frame that cut into Indy’s lead, 9-4. The scoring was far from over, however, and Madris plated two with a solo home run and RBI single in the fifth and sixth innings, respectively.

The floodgates opened in the seventh for both teams, with 11 total runs scored in the frame. In the top half, back-to-back run-scoring singles by Oneil Cruz and Swaggerty with two outs extended the lead to 13-4. Martin then launched a three-run shot out to right field to cap the scoring for Indianapolis.

The Saints (17-26) sent 11 batters to the plate and scored six runs – all unearned – on three hits, two walks and two errors by Cruz in the seventh to attempt a comeback.

Jerad Eickhoff did not surrender a hit until the third inning and held the Saints scoreless until the fourth. Aaron Fletcher (W, 1-0) entered in the fifth and gave up just two hits over a pair of scoreless innings.

Five of the Indians’ runs came against Saints starter Jordan Balazovic (L, 0-2) until he was pulled with one out in the fourth inning. Four runs were charged to Tyler Viza, who recorded just one out, before Daniel Gossett entered and was charged with seven runs over 3.0 innings.

In Game 2, Indianapolis took an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first on an error before St. Paul scored one run in the fourth and fifth innings to take a 2-1 lead. Bases-loaded walks to Jason Delay and Josh Bissonette in the sixth swung the game back in Indy’s favor, but a pair of home runs in the sixth – one off Cam Vieaux and one off Cristofer Melendez (L, 2-2) – lifted the Saints to their first victory of the series. Jharel Cotton (W, 1-1) closed out the game for St. Paul.

The Indians and Saints will face off again on Thursday night at 8:07 PM ET at CHS Field. RHP Osvaldo Bido (0-1, 3.64) will take the mound against RHP Mario Sanchez (2-1, 4.63)