James Marvel-ous as Indians One-Hit Mets in 9-1 Win

INDIANAPOLIS -James Marvel and three relievers combined on a one-hitter, Christian Kelley and Hunter Owen cranked home runs to start and end a six-run third inning, and the Indians avoided a sweep with a 9-1 rout of Syracuse on Thursday night. Marvel tied a career high with nine strikeouts in his second win Triple-A victory.

The Indians (48-48) snapped their five-game home losing streak in dominant fashion, banging 14 hits to back Marvel's gem. After the Tribe righty stranded a runner at third base in the first inning, Indy's bats awoke in the third against 31-year-old knuckleballer Mickey Jannis. The Indians sent nine batters to the dish, with Kelley's third long ball of the season opening the frame. Kevin Kramer doubled the lead on a sacrifice fly, and two more runs came in on a Jason Martin double to right-center.
Owen, an Evansville, Ind. native and Indiana State University product, capped the big inning with his first home run in Triple-A, a two-run shot that sailed 419 feet to deep center.
Marvel (W, 2-0) excelled with the lead. He hit two batters in the third but sat down his final 11 batters faced. Keone Kela followed suit by striking out the side in the seventh, and Jake Brentz retired the first two he faced in the eighth before issuing four consecutive walks that gave Syracuse (48-49) its only run. Geoff Hartlieb recorded the final four outs to seal the win.
The one-hitter was just the third thrown by Indianapolis at Victory Field since 1996 and the first since July 29, 2018 when the Tribe played as the visiting team in Game 2 of a doubleheader against Buffalo.
Kramer extended Indy's lead to 7-0 in the fourth on a run-scoring single, and two wild pitches in the sixth inning allowed Jake Elmore - who had doubled - to score for an 8-0 cushion. Will Craig tallied the Tribe's final hit of the evening with two outs in the eighth, bringing home Trayvon Robinson from second.
Elmore logged his second straight three-hit performance to lift his season average to .358. Craig, Martin and Kelley each had two-hit games, as well.
Jannis (L, 0-2) gave up seven earned runs on seven hits in 3.1 innings pitched to take the loss.
The Indians begin a three-game weekend series with Durham at 7:15 p.m. ET. Alex McRae (6-6, 5.03) will oppose Anthony Banda (0-0, 3.00) in the series opener.