Bats Two-Hit Tribe in 2-0 Shutout

INDIANAPOLIS -Tyler Mahle and Lisalverto Bonilla combined on a two-hitter as the Louisville Bats handed the Indianapolis Indians a 2-0 defeat Saturday night. In front of 15,006 fans - the largest Victory Field attendance of the season - Elias Díaz and Starling Marte were the only Indians to record knocks in Indy's 12^th shutout loss of the season.

Louisville (36-56) snagged the lead in the third on a two-out RBI single by Darnell Sweeney. Indianapolis (52-40) starter Clay Holmes retired the first seven batters he faced before Alex Blandino reached on an infield dribbler down the third-base line. Mahle then sacrificed Blandino up to second base ahead of Sweeney's single over the glove of Joey Terdoslavich at first into right field.
Holmes (7-4) worked efficiently after the RBI single, sitting down the next 10 batters. At a miniscule 62 pitches through six innings, he gave up a Sebastian Elizalde single to start the seventh and was quickly removed from the game with an apparent injury. The right-hander allowed one run on three hits over six-plus innings.
Dan Runzler and Johnny Barbato posted zeroes in the seventh and eighth to keep Indy within striking distance, but Dovydas Neverauskas yielded one run in the final inning on a sacrifice fly by Brandon Dixon to cap the scoring.
Mahle (1-3) earned his first Triple-A win and carried a no-hitter into the sixth. Diaz broke up his no-hit bid with a clean single to center but was stranded at first base. Two innings later, Marte opened the eighth with a sharp single to left and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt. Bonilla struck out Danny Ortiz and got Diaz to ground out to short, erasing the threat.
He then worked a 1-2-3 ninth for his first save of the season.
Each of Indianapolis' last six home losses have come in shutout fashion. The Indians have been blanked at home 11 times in 20 total home losses this year, the most shutout losses at home in the Victory Field era.
The Indians and Bats wrap their four-game series Sunday afternoon at Victory Field. Right-hander Tyler Eppler (6-4, 4.54) gets the nod for the Tribe, opposite Bats southpaw Amir Garrett (1-1, 4.95). First pitch is scheduled for 1:35 p.m. ET.