Bats Weather Storm, Strike in Seventh
LOUISVILLE, KY-- The Indianapolis Indians (47-35) repeatedly knocked on the door with a base hit in eight of nine innings, but the opposing Louisville Bats (42-40) weathered the scattered storms before stirring up just enough of an offensive front in the seventh frame to nip the Tribe 2-1 on Saturday night at Slugger Field.
Engaged in an immediate neck-and-neck struggle with the hometown Bats, Indy and its utility arm Jay Jackson kept their opposition off-balance through a 5.2-IP dance featuring just three base knocks and two walks with six strikeouts over Jackson's scoreless "spot" start. The Tribe's righty was, by all intents and purposes, in the driver's seat after fanning four consecutive batters and being spotted a 1-0 edge on Matt Hague's sixth-inning solo blast, but the starter was outlasted by an equally strong outing from his Bats counterpart.
Louisville righty Jair Jurrjens recovered from Hague's big fly and limited the remaining Indians' bats to five hits and two walks through his otherwise scoreless, 7.0-IP start. Once Jurrjens secured a shutout frame in the seventh, his offense rallied with three one-base knocks, including RBI singles from Kris Negron and Hernan Iribarren, to notch a game-winning, 2-1 advantage.
Indy kept applying pressure to the very end, but after putting the tying run on base in the ninth, a Bats running stab in LF began a wild, 7-6-3 double play that halted the Tribe's late rally in its tracks.