Three Home Runs Lead Indianapolis to Homestand-Opening Win over St. Paul
INDIANAPOLIS – The Indianapolis Indians utilized three homers – highlighted by a 466-foot home run by Rafael Flores Jr. to match the longest long ball hit at Victory Field since tracking began in 2023 – to defeat the St. Paul Saints and clinch their first series-opening victory of 2026 on
INDIANAPOLIS – The Indianapolis Indians utilized three homers – highlighted by a 466-foot home run by Rafael Flores Jr. to match the longest long ball hit at Victory Field since tracking began in 2023 – to defeat the St. Paul Saints and clinch their first series-opening victory of 2026 on Tuesday night, 7-5.
Flores Jr.'s massive home run, which bounced off the light pole in left-center field, is the third-longest home run in professional baseball this season, trailing Bryce Rainer’s 477-foot homer with Single-A Lakeland on April 10 and Shea Langeliers’s 467-foot homer with the Athletics on April 15. It also matched Joshua Palacios’ walk-off dinger vs. Louisville on July 26, 2023, for the longest home run by an Indians batter since that season.
The 466-foot blast was sandwiched by a solo homer by Nick Cimillo in the first inning and a three-run shot in the fourth by Ronny Simon to give the Indians (7-15) a 6-1 lead after four innings. Six of Indy’s seven runs came against starter Mike Paredes (L, 0-1).
The Saints (9-12) put up four runs on a pair of two-run homers in the fifth, but the rally fell quiet through the end of the game against Joe La Sorsa (W, 1-0) and Beau Burrows (S, 1).
Indianapolis will look to go up 2-0 on the series tomorrow at 6:05 PM. LHP Hunter Barco (0-0, 7.71) will make his first start of the season for Indy against RHP Andrew Bash (0-1, 4.41).