Indians win 5-4 thriller at Syracuse
The Indians, who now lead the International League's West Division by four games over Toledo, improve to 27-21 overall and 15-9 on the road. The SkyChiefs, who have dropped 11 of their last 14 contests, fall to 21-27 on the season.
Indianapolis is in search of its fourth consecutive winning road trip after opening the 2006 campaign with three straight better-than-.500 trips.
Syracuse cracked the scoreboard with three runs in the second. C Jason Phillips roped a single up the middle before 3B John Hattig crushed his second home run of the season -- a two-run shot to left center. CF Wayne Lydon and 2B Russ Adams then smacked back-to-back, two-out doubles to give the SkyChiefs a 3-0 cushion.
Indianapolis evened the affair with one run in the fifth and two more in the sixth. Furmaniak reached on a fielder's choice in the fifth and came plateward on 2B Taber Lee's double to right center. CF Rajai Davis, LF Rich Thompson and Gonzalez all singled in the sixth before Davis and Thompson touched the dish on a costly Syracuse error.
The Indians continued to rally in the eighth. Thompson led off with a walk, moved to second on a groundout and came around to score on Gonzalez's single to center. Gonzalez then came plateward on Furmaniak's base knock through the left side after advancing to second on a throw to the plate and third on a deep fly to center.
The Tribe bullpen did the rest, yielding just one meaningless run in the bottom of the ninth. RHP Terry Adams (1.2 IP, 1 BB) picked up the win, improving to 3-1. LHP C.J. Nitkowski (0.2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB) was credited with a hold, while RHP Jonah Bayliss (0.1 IP, 1 SO) fanned the only batter he faced to notch his fifth save of the campaign.
SkyChiefs RHP Vinnie Chulk (2.0 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO) was tagged with the loss, falling to 3-1.
Both starters -- Syracuse LHP Jamie Vermilyea (5.1 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO) and Indianapolis RHP Jason Roach (5.1 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 4 SO) -- worked into the sixth, but neither factored in the decision.
Davis and Gonzalez collected two hits and one run apiece for the visitors, while Lydon finished 3-for-4 with a pair of scores for the home team.
The two clubs return to Alliance Bank Stadium Sunday evening at 6 p.m., for game two of the four-game series. LHP Sean Burnett is scheduled to start for Indianapolis, while RHP David Purcey is expected to get the nod for Syracuse.
The game will be carried by ESPN-950 AM and IndyIndians.com as Howard Kellman and Scott McCauley have the call. Sunday's pre-game show begins at 5:40 p.m