Tribe Lose 5-0 Lead, Swept by PawSox

Pawtucket sweeps Indy at Victory Field for first time since 2004

After a strong start, Tyler Eppler and the Tribe fell short Sunday afternoon, and the Red Sox were able to complete a three game sweep. (Photo by Austin Friedline)

By Cheyne Reiter

August 12, 2018

INDIANAPOLIS - The Pawtucket Red Sox scored nine unanswered runs, including six in the seventh inning, to overcome a 5-0 deficit en route to a 9-5 win over the Indians on Sunday afternoon. Max Moroff hit a leadoff homer and José Osuna reached base four times in the defeat.

INDIANAPOLIS - The Pawtucket Red Sox scored nine unanswered runs, including six in the seventh inning, to overcome a 5-0 deficit en route to a 9-5 win over the Indians on Sunday afternoon. Max Moroff hit a leadoff homer and José Osuna reached base four times in the defeat.

The PawSox (56-61) earned their first sweep over Indianapolis (65-54) at Victory Field in 14 years behind a massive comeback. The visitors sent 10 batters to the plate in the seventh against Alex McRae and Jesus Liranzo, an inning that included a game-tying, two-run single by former Cincinnati Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips and a go-ahead knock by Jantzen Witte. Mike Miller followed Witte's RBI single with one of his own, and Kyle Wren capped the burst with a two-run double to right-center that made it 9-5.
The Indians took a 1-0 lead two pitches into the bottom of the first on Moroff's fourth career leadoff blast in a Tribe uniform, the most by an Indians player dating back to 2005. He added a two-run single in the second that pushed Indy's advantage to 3-0.
The Tribe put two more runs on the board in the third. Osuna and Ryan Lavarnway smoked back-to-back doubles and a throwing error by Witte at third gave the Indians their fifth and final run.
Pawtucket began to dig out in the fourth. They totaled five hits in the frame off Tyler Eppler, highlighted by a Sam Travis run-scoring double and Wren RBI single.
In the next inning, they inched to within two runs at 5-3 on a Tony Renda single and coinciding fielding error by Eric Wood in right that allowed Tzu-Wei Lin to hustle home.
Josh A. Smith (W, 4-4) pitched 4.0 shutout innings in relief, holding the Tribe to one hit with one punchout. McRae (L, 3-9) suffered his team-high ninth loss after yielding five earned runs on three hits and two walks in 1.1 innings of work.
The Indians hit the highway for a seven-game road trip to Pennsylvania, starting with three in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Monday night at 7:05 p.m. EDT. Right-hander Nick Kingham (4-1, 2.42) will face righty Luis Cessa (3-0, 2.55).