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Goedert homers twice, plates nine

Indians outfielder falls one RBI short of Clippers record
June 6, 2012
Jared Goedert and the Columbus Clippers had suffered a difficult road trip, losing seven of their last nine games. They took out their frustration at home on the Buffalo Bisons.

Goedert went 4-for-4 with two homers, a double and nine RBIs as the Triple-A Clippers trounced the Bisons, 21-3, on Tuesday to set a new runs record at Huntington Park.

"Obviously I felt pretty good," Goedert said. "When you look at the numbers, it was collective effort all the way around. It was pretty exciting to be a part of that, especially coming off the kind of a rough road we had."

The Indians farmhand came two RBIs short of Columbus' all-time record, as Mike Natisin of the Red Birds knocked in 11 on May 30, 1949. The Clippers' single-game mark belongs to current outfielder Chad Huffman, who drove in 10 on April 21, 2011.

Huffman made sure to let Goedert know that he'd missed out on the record.

"There was some light-hearted ribbing about that. ... He's a good guy, I like him a lot," Goedert said. "It would've been cool to tie. He was giving me a little bit of a hard time, saying I couldn't catch him. I wasn't aware [of the record] until afterward."

Goedert began his night by lining a one-out single in the first inning to drive in two runs. He went deep in his next plate appearance, sending the seventh pitch of the at-bat over the center-field wall to plate three.

"I'd seen most of his pitches that at-bat," Goedert said. "I think it was 3-2 with two outs and the runners were moving. I thought he'd probably have to throw a fastball and he did. It was a little more over the plate than he probably hoped, kind of middle away, and I was able to go with that pitch."

The 27-year-old outfielder doubled leading off the fourth -- his only hit of the day that did not drive in a run -- then smacked another three-run homer later in the inning. He knocked in his final run of the game in the sixth when he hit a sacrifice fly to score Ezequiel Carrera, then ended his performance by drawing a walk with two men on in the eighth.

Promoted to Triple-A on May 18, Goedert hit homers in four straight games from May 22-26 and knocked in 11 runs during that stretch. He went into a slump after that, however, going 5-for-32 (.156) over his next nine games. Could Tuesday's breakout be the start of another hot streak?

"I hope so," Goedert said. "I didn't necessarily feel that bad the last couple of series on the road, but it was just a matter of you go through those stretches where you have a rough time or bad luck, maybe hit balls hard right at someone. Myself and the rest of the team kind of felt the same way, hopefully we can continue this from tonight."

After being selected in the ninth round of the 2006 Draft, Goedert has spent his entire career in the Indians organization. He's played for the Clippers in their last two playoff runs, helping them to consecutive Triple-A championships, but has never reached the Majors. He said a third title would be nice, but his goal is still to reach the highest level.

"I think three in a row would be amazing, but you play to get to the big leagues, so I'd have to go with the big leagues," he said.

David Heck is a contributor to MLB.com.