Clippers unable to complete comeback

The Clippers gave it their all, but they could not finish a rally as they came up short against the Indianapolis Indians 5-4 at Huntington Park.

Indianapolis would strike first on the scoreboard in the top of the second. Yamaico Navarro cranked a solo homer over the left center field wall to give his club a 1-0 lead, which would then balloon to 3-0 when Alex Presley knocked in two more with a two run single to right. Another run would cross the plate in the same inning when Presley scored on a Jose Tabata RBI single to center, making it a 4-0 edge for the Indians.

The Clippers tried putting together a comeback. It would start in the bottom of the fourth when Aaron Cunningham plated Luke Carlin with an RBI double to left center. Then, in the bottom of the sixth, Vinnie Rottino drove home Tim Fedroff from third on an RBI sacrifice fly to deep center.

The Indians would get back one of those runs in the later innings, scoring a run in the top half of the seventh on a Matt Hague RBI single to right. Still, the Clippers continued their rally in the bottom of the seventh. Russ Canzler would begin the frame with a double off of the left field wall. That was followed up with an RBI double to left by Lars Anderson.

Gregorio Petit would then earn first base by being hit by an Evan Meek pitch, putting the tying runs on first and second with nobody out. Both of those runners moved into scoring position on a Carlin groundout to the pitcher. Cunningham would do his part to get his ball club to within one run, plating Anderson with an RBI groundout to shortstop. Fedroff continued the inning with a two out walk, but Cord Phelps grounded into a force play at shortstop to end the frame.

The Clippers had a golden opportunity to tie the game in the bottom of the eighth. With two outs, Canzler lined an extra base hit down the left field line. It rattled around in the corner for a while, enabling Canzler to scamper all the way to third. Unfortunately, Anderson grounded out to first, putting an end to that threat.

After escaping a bases loaded jam in the top of the ninth, the Clippers went back to the bat rack, hoping that one last rally was left in them in the bottom half of the frame. Petit grounded out to third to begin the inning. Luke Carlin then reached safely at first when Matt Hague booted a ball at first. Cunningham would strike out swinging, leaving it all up to Fedroff to keep hope alive for Columbus. Fedroff would ground into a force out and that would be it as Indy took the rubber game of the three game series.

For the game, Daniel Cabrera (W, 6-6) picked up the victory for the Indians, Matt Packer (L, 0-2) was saddled with the loss for the Clippers, and Tim Wood (S, 17) nailed down the win for Indianapolis in the ninth.

The Clippers will have an off-day on Monday before beginning a four game series with the Durham Bulls at Huntington Park on Tuesday night. Columbus righty Jeanmar Gomez (6-2, 2.59) will face off against Bulls right-hander Matt Torra (10-6, 4.16). First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 pm.