INDIANAPOLIS - Down to the final strike, Erich Weiss smacked a two-out, two-run double off Josh Ravin in the bottom of the ninth to lift the Indianapolis Indians to their first walk-off win of the season, 3-2, over the Gwinnett Stripers on Thursday night at Victory Field.
INDIANAPOLIS - Down to the final strike, Erich Weiss smacked a two-out, two-run double off Josh Ravin in the bottom of the ninth to lift the Indianapolis Indians to their first walk-off win of the season, 3-2, over the Gwinnett Stripers on Thursday night at Victory Field.
The ninth-inning rally was ignited by an error, single and speed. With one away, Jacob Stallings reached safely on a slow dribbler back to Ravin (L, 0-1) that the right-hander mishandled for an error. Then with two down, Pablo Reyes slapped a single into right to set up Weiss' heroics. The left-handed Weiss turned on a 1-2, 95-mph fastball, splitting the right-center gap to bring home Stallings and Reyes as the game-winning runs.
The result gave Indianapolis (13-11) seven consecutive wins in series openers.
Facing Gwinnett (9-16) southpaw Kolby Allard - one of the top pitching prospects in all of baseball - Indy was aggressive from the get-go. Kevin Newman singled to start the bottom of the first and after Jordan Luplow walked, the duo executed a double steal. Eric Wood then scored Newman on a groundout to third to put Indy in front, 1-0.
Tribe starter Casey Sadler ran with the one-run lead, posting five shutout innings before handing over to A.J. Schugel in the sixth. The Stripers quickly grabbed the lead against the major league rehabber, capitalizing on a hit batsman and single with a two-out, two-run single off the bat of Tyler Smith.
Bo Schultz and Josh Smoker (W, 1-0) kept the visitors at bay over the next three innings, allowing just two baserunners with three punchouts combined.
The Indians saw multiple scoring opportunities vanish in the thrilling win. Indy loaded the bases with no outs in the third and came up empty. Later, a one-out triple by Jordan Luplow in the sixth failed to result in a run, and a line-drive double play by Weiss in the seventh erased a second-and-third, one-out scoring chance.
The Indians and Stripers continue their four-game series on Friday, May 4 at The Vic, with first pitch set for 7:15 p.m. Indy will send right-hander Alex McRae (0-3, 6.55) to the bump, opposite Gwinnett righty Andres Santiago (1-1, 3.63).
To purchase tickets for any Indians home game, contact the Victory Field Box Office at 317-269-2282 or [email protected]. For more on the Tribe, visit IndyIndians.com.
