4-Run 7th Powers Tribe Past Knights 4-3
The victory improves Indianapolis' record to 49-48, while the loss drops Charlotte to 48-49. The win also gives the Indians a 1-0 series lead in what was the first meeting between the two clubs. With the crowd of 10,729 the Indians have also now averaged 10,165 fans per game over the past 19 home games.
The Tribe offense entered the seventh sputtering, as they failed to plate a single score off Charlotte starter Doug Davis. A Major League veteran who just recently signed with the Chicago White Sox, Davis (6.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO) frustrated Tribe batters over the first six frames, scattering six hits and inducing two key double plays.
However, the Indianapolis offense broke out in a big way in the seventh, sparked by the suddenly surging Alvarez, who led off the frame with a solo blast to right that left the park in a hurry. The longball was one of three hits on the night for the left-handed slugger, who has now posted a .467 batting average (7-for-15) with three runs, two home runs and four RBI over his last four games.
After Alvarez got the Tribe on the board, Indians All-Star 1B Matt Hague lined a single to center to set the stage for Brown, who belted a game-tying two-run shot over the left field fence. The blast for Brown was his seventh on the season and continued a recent power surge for the Indians, who have now collected a homer in seven straight contests, launching a total of 13 longballs during that span.
Brown's two-run bomb evened the score at 3-3 and paved the way for the Indianapolis middle infield combination of Mercer and Cedeno, who together manufactured what turned out to be the game-winning scoring rally. Mercer began by battling through an eight-pitch at-bat to draw a two-out base-on-balls, before Cedeno belted a triple to deep center field to plate Mercer and give the Tribe a 4-3 advantage.
While Alvarez (3-for-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI) paced all batters with three base knocks on the evening, Brown (2-for-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI), Hague (2-for-4, 1 R) and LF John Bowker (2-for-4) also all posted multi-hit efforts for the Tribe. On the other side, Charlotte's one and two batters, LF Alejandro De Aza (2-for-3, 1 R) and 1B Jim Gallagher (2-for-4, 1 R, 1 RBI) collected four of the Knights' five total hits on evening.
The Knights' lead-off duo got things off to a quick start, as De Aza led off the game with a line drive double to center, before Gallagher followed with a base hit up the middle to give Charlotte the early 1-0 advantage. Later in the first, Gallagher would come plateward himself on a run-scoring single from former Indians' OF Lastings Milledge to give the Knights a 2-0 lead.
Charlotte later extended their advantage to 3-0 in the fourth, when after three consecutive walks, a groundout from SS Eduardo Escobar scored Terre Haute native Josh Phegley. However, Indians reliever Sean Gallagher (3.2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 2 SO) would work his way out of the fourth and go on to toss 3.1 innings of relief to earn the victory and improve to 5-9 on the season.
Tribe reliever Justin Thomas (1.0 IP, 1 SO) followed Gallagher and earned his International League leading ninth hold of the season in what was his league high 44th appearance. Indianapolis closer Tim Wood (1.0 IP) then shut the door in the ninth to earn his team-leading 16th save.
Indians starter Brian Burres (3.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO) did not figure in the final decision after allowing two runs on four hits over 3.1 innings. Knights reliever Freddy Dolsi (0.2 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 0 SO) surrendered all four Tribe runs and was pinned with the loss to fall to 3-7 on the season.
Indianapolis now continues their four-game series with Charlotte on Tuesday night at 7:05 p.m. LHP Rudy Owens is expected to get the start for the Indians, while the Knights are scheduled to counter with RHP Dylan Axelrod.
The contest will be carried on WNDE 1260 AM, WNDE.com and via iheartradio, a mobile application for iPhone, Blackberry and Android phones, while also being broadcast live on Comcast and Bright House Networks digital channel 81 with Howard Kellman and Scott McCauley on the call. The pre-game show begins at 6:45 p.m.
Post-game quotes -- C Dusty Brown
(on getting a comeback win)
"Great win."
(on Sean Gallagher's relief effort)
"He just started to get his fastball in the strike zone. He started to command a lot better, he was able to mix his pitches well and he was able to get ahead of guys."
(on his game-tying homerun)
"I was just trying to hit something hard. I was seeing the ball pretty well tonight. After I swung and missed at a good sinker down I just wanted to see something up and got something up and in and put a good swing on it. Luckily, it stayed fair."