Skenes Sails Through 6.0 Innings, Indians Walk-Off Bisons in 11

INDIANAPOLIS – Paul Skenes fanned seven through 6.0 shutout innings and Yasmani Grandal roped a walk-off single in the bottom of the 11th as the Indianapolis Indians defeated the Buffalo Bisons to open the six-game series at Victory Field on Tuesday night, 4-3.

With the game knotted 3-3 after a three-run top of the ninth inning by Buffalo, the teams were in a scoring standstill until Indianapolis (13-12) broke through in the 11th. With Nick Gonzales on second base as the automatic runner, Grandal sent the second pitch of the inning into left field for a single against Paxton Schultz (L, 0-1). Gonzales raced home, sliding in safely as the game-winning run. It was Indianapolis’ second walk-off win of the season and first in extra innings.

Paul Skenes, MiLB’s No. 3 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, and Buffalo’s Alek Manoah were locked in a pitchers’ duel until both exited after the sixth inning. Skenes, making his sixth Triple-A start, tossed a career-high 6.0 innings with four hits, one walk and seven strikeouts. Manoah countered with one run allowed on two hits with 12 strikeouts.

The Indians scored game’s first run on a solo home run by Gonzales in the sixth inning, his third of the year. Indy’s offense picked up again in the seventh inning, when Liover Peguero tripled on a line drive to drive in Jake Lamb from first base. In the next at-bat, Malcom Nuñez plated Peguero on a line-drive single to left field.

Buffalo (16-11) put two runners on base in the top of the ninth before Damiano Palmegiani launched a game-tying three-run homer with no outs. Three batters later, on a Rafael Lantigua single, Brian Serven was thrown out at home by right-fielder Gilberto Celestino as the would-be go-ahead run.

After Skenes exited, Ben Heller and Jose Hernandez tossed back-to-back hitless frames. Brady Feigl and Brent Honeywell (W, 1-1) shut down Buffalo’s offense in the 10th and 11th innings to hold on for the win.

The Indians offense struck out a season-high 18 times against Buffalo’s pitching. On the flip side, Indianapolis’ pitching staff struck out 15, one short of tying its season high.

Indianapolis and Buffalo will face off in the second game of the six-game set tomorrow at 11:05 AM ET. LHP Eric Lauer (2-0, 2.37) gets the nod for Indy against RHP Paolo Espino (0-0, 4.30).