Tribe Falls 7-6 In 11-Inning July 4 Marathon
INDIANAPOLIS -- The Indianapolis Indians rallied behind roaring ovations from a sellout crowd of 14,303 fans to overcome both a four-run and two-run deficit, but the Louisville Bats pushed across a lone score in the top of the 11th to spoil an otherwise perfect Fourth of July evening 7-6 at Victory Field.
One night after the Tribe played spoiler of the Bats' July 3rd holiday celebration at Slugger Field, Louisville set out to return the favor by plating lone tallies in each of the first four frames on a pair of solo homers, an unearned run and RBI single that made it 4-0 after four frames.
Indians starter Brandon Cumpton wouldn't be completely shaken, however, and the righty buckled down to limit the Bats to just one base knock over his final two frames of work. Cumpton, who entered the outing with quality appearances in each of his six starts, kept the streak the alive by fanning three with three ER (4r) in 6.0 innings.
Cumpton's composure seemed to have a carryover effect at the plate as the Tribe's offense sprang to life to nearly erase the four-run deficit in the fifth with a run-scoring grounder from Chase d'Arnaud and two-tally single from Michael Martinez that narrowed the Indians hole to 4-3 after five innings.
Indy then completed its first comeback on an RBI single from Robert Andino in the seventh, and once it matched a pair of Bats runs in the bottom of the eighth, headed to extras with the game tied 6-6.
Louisville, even after witnessing its prior 6-4 lead vanish, kept up its relentless attack in the top of the game-deciding 11th with Steve Selsky using a one-out walk and back-to-back Bats singles to take third, cross home and spell Indy's demise at 7-6.