Syracuse Shuts Down Indians 4-2
With the loss the Indians fall to 17-20 overall and 8-12 at home, while the win improves the Chiefs to 17-19 on the season and 10-10 on the road. The victory for the Chiefs ends their current six game losing streak and moves the season series against the Tribe to 3-2 in favor of Indianapolis with just Tuesday's contest remaining.
The Chiefs started the game with a bang when Maxwell blasted the first pitch from Indians' starter Daniel McCutchen, over the wall in left-center field for his fourth homer of the season. Two batters later, the former Indianapolis Indian, Eldred, gave Syracuse a quick 2-0 lead when he rocketed a ball over the wall in deep right-center for his fifth homer run on the year.
Then after Indianapolis tied up the score with two in the bottom of the first, Syracuse re-took the lead on a successful double steal by RF Mike Vento and 2B Seth Bynum. The run for Bynum, who played at the University of Indiana, gives him a team-high six runs in five games against the Indians this season.
RHP Marco Estrada, who started the game for the Chiefs, knocked in an important insurance run in the fourth inning, when he singled in Bynum for his first hit of the season. Estrada (6.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 SO) also allowed just two runs on four hits and struck out six to pick up the win and improve to 2-0 on the season.
The Chiefs bullpen was lights out as RHP Tyler Clippard, RHP Jason Bergmann and RHP Mike MacDougal combined for three scoreless innings of relief. Clippard (1.0 IP) and Bergmann (1.0 IP, 1 H, 2 SO) were each credited with holds, while MacDougal (1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 1 SO) escaped the ninth for his first save of the season.
Indianapolis also got out to a quick start on Monday as CF Andrew McCutchen led of the game with a single, stole second and third base, and later came plateward along with 1B Steve Pearce on a two-out two-run double by 3B Neil Walker. Walker has now collected all five of the Indians' RBI over the past two games with a first inning two-run double on Monday and his eighth inning pinch-hit three-run game-winning double on Sunday.
Both McCutchen (2-for-4, 1 R) and Walker (2-for-4, 2 RBI) remain hot for the Tribe with multi-hit games on Monday, while Syracuse received multi-hit efforts of their own from 3B Kory Casto (3-for-4), Eldred (2-for-4, 1 R, 1 RBI) and Vento (2-for-4, 1 R).
Tribe starter Daniel McCutchen (6.0 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 7 SO) struck out seven in six innings of work, but took the loss to drop to 2-3 on the season. However, the Indianapolis bullpen continues to pitch well as RHP Jeremy Powell (1.0 IP. 1 BB) and RHP Brian Slocum (2.0 IP, 2 H, 1 BB) combined for three scoreless innings of work.
Though the Tribe committed their first error of the series on Monday night, the defense did step up in a big way with a season high four double plays to give them a total of eight in the first three games of the homestand.
Indianapolis closes out their four game homestand against the Chiefs with the final game of the season between the two teams to take place on Tuesday at 11:00 a.m. The game will also feature a special pre-game ceremony in which Jackie Robinson's number 42 will be retired, including an appearance by Robinson's Brooklyn Dodgers teammate Carl Erskine.
RHP Virgil Vasquez is scheduled to start for Indianapolis, while LHP Michael O'Connor is expected to get the nod for the Chiefs.
The contest will be carried by WXLW-950 AM and www.IndyIndians.com with Howard Kellman and Scott McCauley. The pre-game show begins at 10:40 a.m.
Post-game quotes -- 3B Neil Walker
(on his RBI double in the first inning)
"It obviously feels good. I was just trying to get the team back in the game after we got down early and was fortunate enough to hit a ball well and score those two runs."
(on starting the game down 2-0 after the first)
"Being down early is better than being down late because you realize when your down early that you do have a lot of at-bats left. You don't want to stress early, but at the same time you know you've got guys in scoring position so you want to try to get a pitch to hit and do something with it."
(on changing his mind-set from pinch hitter one day to starter the next)
"Coming in as a pinch hitter you're obviously cold and you don't have any at-bats under your belt. So in that situation you're looking for a pitch early that you can do something with, where as when your playing in the game you know you have a couple of at-bats where you can look at pitches and you don't have to hit cold."