Mud Hens Pitching Stumps Indianapolis, 7-2

INDIANAPOLIS – Former Indianapolis Indians hurler Drew Hutchison tossed seven shutout innings against his former team en route to a 7-2 win for the Toledo Mud Hens on Thursday night.

Despite taking the loss, Cody Ponce (L, 0-4) notched his second quality start of the season. He gave up two Mud Hens runs and fanned six batters in as many innings. Both of his quality starts this season have come on Thursdays at Victory Field.

Three consecutive singles with two outs in the top of the first inning gave Toledo (38-29) an early 1-0 lead. After stranding runners on base in each of the next three frames followed by a clean fifth by Cody Ponce, Kody Clemens hit a solo home run in the sixth inning to give the Mud Hens their second run.

Into the Indians (33-34) bullpen, Toledo tacked on two more runs in the eighth inning. With one out, three consecutive batters reached safely via two walks and a hit by pitch. The two walks came around to score and give Toledo a 4-0 lead.

Back-to-back home runs by Renato Nunez and Clemens – their second pairing in as many days – extended the Mud Hens lead by three in the ninth inning.

Down to the Indians last out in the bottom of the ninth, Hunter Owen broke up the shutout bid with a two-run home run to left field. After hitting a solo home run yesterday afternoon, Thursday marked the first time Owen hit home runs in two consecutive games since May 31-June 1 with Double-A Altoona.

Hutchison (W, 7-3) tossed a gem against his former team. He held the Indians without a baserunner through the first four innings and surrendered a total of three hits in his seven innings of work. He also registered eight strikeouts.

The Indians and Mud Hens will face off again on Friday night at 7:05 PM ET. LHP Steven Brault (0-1, 3.00) is set to make his second rehab start with the Indians. For Toledo, RHP Pedro Payano (1-3, 5.87) will take the hill.