A Perfect 10: Indians Blank Charlotte Behind Eppler's Gem

INDIANAPOLIS - A Joey Terdoslavich RBI single was all Tyler Eppler and the Indianapolis Indians needed in a 1-0 shutout over the Charlotte Knights on Wednesday afternoon at Victory Field. Eppler mastered the visitors with a career-high eight strikeouts, leading the Tribe to their fifth straight win overall and 10^th consecutive triumph over the Knights in downtown Indy.

Eppler (3-1) continued Indianapolis' (13-16) recent trend of strong pitching from the rotation. Drew Hutchison started the series Monday with 6.2 frames of one-run ball, followed by Clay Holmes allowing just two runs over seven innings on Tuesday. Eppler topped his fellow right-handers with his best Triple-A start to date, throwing a season-high seven scoreless innings against a Charlotte (14-17) lineup headlined by MLB.com's No. 1 overall prosect, Yoan Moncada.
Eppler's swing-and-miss stuff resulted in one strikeout every inning excluding the second, when he bookended that frame with punchouts against Roberto Pena and Jacob May.
Former Tribe pitcher Chris Volstad (0-2) scattered six hits over five innings, with his lone blemish coming during an Indians two-out rally in the second. Jacob Stallings lined a single into left to set up a run-scoring single off the bat of Terdoslavich, a drive that caromed high off the center-field wall.
A.J. Schugel stranded the tying run at third in the eighth, and Dovydas Neverauskas sealed his fourth save of the season by inducing a 5-4-3 double play in the ninth.
The shutout victory was Indy's first of 2017. They had 19 shutout wins in 2016.
The bottom third of Indy's lineup - Stallings, Terdoslavich and Anderson Feliz - did most of the damage offensively, combining for five of the Tribe's nine hits. Terdoslavich has recorded exactly two hits in each of his last four starts.
The Indians haven't lost to Charlotte at Victory Field since July 24, 2014, when the Knights completed a four-game sweep.
Indianapolis continues its seven-game homestand Thursday night as the Norfolk Tides come to Victory Field for a four-game series. The Indians will send left-hander Steven Brault (0-3, 3.52) to the mound, opposite Tides southpaw Jayson Aquino (1-2, 5.06). First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m.