Bats Spoil Kingham's Strong Start
LOUISVILLE, KY -- Once again embarked in a tightly-contested pitchers duel, the Indianapolis Indians (47-36) came up short, dropping a one-run game to the Louisville Bats (43-40) at Louisville Slugger Field Sunday night.
Indians starter Nick Kingham once again reigned supreme on the mound, allowing just four hits over 6.0 strong, scoreless frames.
The Bats, who had been flustered all night, broke through when Thomas Neal was able to reach second base on what was scored as a Matt Hague throwing error with one out in the bottom of the eighth. Donald Lutz then flared a single to right field an at-bat later to give Louisville the lone run of the game, and the decisive 1-0 victory.
The eighth inning saw Nick Kingham's quality start spoiled, leaving him with two decisions in four starts despite boasting an immaculate 0.34 ERA. Kingham now has four quality starts in four games since his promotion, but has only received five total runs of support during his four outings.
Indy's offense was unable to muster a run on their five hits, despite a pair of doubles and another multi-hit effort from Robert Andino. This marks just the third time in 83 games the Tribe has been shutout, and the first time since May 15th versus Pawtucket.
This month, the Tribe are now .500 (14-14). They will return to Victory Field for two consecutive games versus the Toledo Mud Hens before returning to Louisville for another pair of games July 2nd and 3rd.