Trio of Homers Powers Indians to Win Over Omaha

PAPILLION, Neb. – The Indianapolis Indians hit three home runs en route to an 11-3 win over the Omaha Storm Chasers on Saturday afternoon at Werner Park. Enmanuel Valdez, Tyler Callihan and Rafael Flores Jr. broke open the game via the long ball for Indy.

Omaha (10-9) opened the game with a pair of first-inning runs before Indy (6-14) evened the game in the top of the second. A two-out rally was kicked off by a walk from Flores Jr. and a single from Enmanuel Valdez. Davis Wendzel doubled them both home to knot the score early. Abraham Toro hit his second homer of the year in the bottom of the second to give Omaha a 3-2 lead.

Indy tied the game again, to begin a barrage of nine unanswered runs, with Alika Williams bringing home Callihan on a sacrifice fly in the third. Enmanuel Valdez jumpstarted the trio of Indians home runs with a solo shot in the fourth, his first of the season. After a walk by Wendzel, Callihan sent his first homer of the season over the right field wall for a 6-3 lead. Flores Jr. launched the third of the game in the fifth inning, swatting a ball to right field to extend the lead to 8-3. Indy tacked on two more insurance runs in the eighth and one in the ninth to conclude the scoring at 11-3.

Carson Fulmer (W, 2-0) started in place of Wilber Dotel and delivered a strong performance, allowing three runs across 5.0 innings. Chris Devenski followed with 2.0 scoreless of his own and Joe La Sorsa blanked the Storm Chasers across the final two frames.

In a bullpen game, Ben Sears opened the game with two runs across 2.0 innings and Shane Panzini (L, 1-1) allowed four across 1.1 frames to follow. Six total pitchers entered the game for Omaha.

The Indians and Storm Chasers conclude their six-game series on Sunday afternoon at 3:05 PM ET. Indianapolis RHP Noah Davis (1-2, 2.29) takes on MLB rehabber RHP Stephen Kolek (0-0, 0.00) in a rematch of Game 1.