INDIANAPOLIS - Pablo Reyes worked a four-pitch walk with the bases loaded in the 10th inning to send the Indians to a 7-6 walk-off win over Durham on Saturday night. With a season-high 14,598 fans in attendance, Indy delivered its second walk-off of the season, overcoming three deficits to even
INDIANAPOLIS - Pablo Reyes worked a four-pitch walk with the bases loaded in the 10th inning to send the Indians to a 7-6 walk-off win over Durham on Saturday night. With a season-high 14,598 fans in attendance, Indy delivered its second walk-off of the season, overcoming three deficits to even the series.
The Indians (40-32) gained momentum in the back-and-forth affair in the bottom of the ninth. Erich Weiss drew a leadoff walk and Kevin Newman sacrifice him to second base. Pablo Reyes then replaced Weiss as a pinch-runner and eventually scored on a Jung Ho Kang poke into shallow left-center, a sharp grounder that glanced off Andrew Velazquez's glove at short.
After escaping a first-and-third, no-out jam in the top half of the 10th, Indy used a Ryan Lavarnway sacrifice bunt and Max Moroff walk to load the bases. Mike Franco struck out Wyatt Mathisen for the first out, but Reyes' bat didn't leave his shoulder, forcing Kevin Kramer home from third for the winning run.
The Bulls (40-32) led early thanks to Brandon Lowe's powerful bat. The 23-year-old, already with a go-ahead homer under his belt from the series opener on Friday, hit two more go-ahead blasts off Tribe starter J.T. Brubaker.
Lowe's first shot sailed just beyond the right-field wall in the second to make it 2-0. Lavarnway cranked a 429-foot, three-run homer to dead center in the home half to put the Indians on top momentarily at 3-2, but Lowe answered with a three-run blast of his own in the fourth to put the visitors back in front 5-3.
Jordan Luplow roped a game-tying double in the fifth - his team-high 22nd of the year - to even the score at five.
Josh Smoker (W, 3-0) tossed two shutout innings to earn the win. He struck out three and started a nifty 1-4-3 double play to stymy Durham's scoring chance in extras. Mike Franco (L, 1-1) allowed one unearned run for the Bulls in the defeat.
The Indians were out-hit by the Bulls 12-10, leaving the Tribe with a 5-25 record when being out-hit by their opponent this season. Both teams left 11 runners on base.
The Indians and Bulls wrap up their series on Sunday afternoon at 1:35 p.m. ET. Tribe right-hander Clay Holmes (6-3, 3.39) will face Durham righty Ryan Weber (3-3, 2.40).
