Chapman Lifts Bats To 7-1 Win
The loss drops the Indians to 5-10, while the win improves the Bats record to 7-8. The victory gives Louisville a 2-1 lead in the season series.
Chapman (5.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 5 BB, 8 SO), in his third career minor league start, was effectively wild for the Bats walking five, while striking out eight and allowing just one unearned run over his 5.1 innings of work to pick up the victory and move to 1-1 on the season. The highly-touted Cincinnati Reds prospect also collected the first hit of his minor league career when he lined a base hit to lead off the fifth
The Tribe, however, did jump on the board first, scoring a run on an errant throw by the catcher in the home half of the second inning. Indians' C Luke Carlin led off the frame with a line drive double to center field, stole third and then scored when Castillo threw wide of the third base bag.
Castillo made up for his run-scoring error with his first home run of the season - a blast to right field - to tie the game 1-1 in the top half of the third inning.
Louisville added two more runs in the fourth inning to take a 3-1 lead. CF Chris Heisey started the frame with a single and scored on a one out double by Francisco, before 2B Chris Valaika plated the Bats third run of the game with an infield single to third base.
The Bats broke open the contest with single runs in the sixth and seventh innings before adding two more scores in the top half of the eighth inning. A solo home run by Francisco accounted for the Bats run in the sixth and a sacrifice fly in the seventh upped the Louisville lead to 5-1. A two-out single and a run-scoring error in the eighth rounded out the scoring and gave the Bats the decisive 7-1 lead.
The Bats offensive attack was paced by Castillo (2-for-4, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 R) and Francisco (2-for-5, 1 2B, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 2 R) who both had multi-hit and multi-RBI nights. Carlin (2-for-3, 1 2B, 1 R, 1 BB) was the only Tribe batter to record multiple hits, while CF Jose Tabata (1-for-4, 1 BB) extended his on-base streak to 12 consecutive games with a walk in the home half of the first inning.
Indianapolis RHP Jeff Karstens (5.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 0 BB, 5 SO) allowed three runs and six hits in five innings and suffered the loss to drop to 1-2 on the season. Tribe reliever Jean Machi (1.0 IP, 1 BB, 2 SO) worked a hitless ninth and has yet to allow a base hit in six innings of work out of the Indians' bullpen this season.
The Indians continue their three-game series against the Louisville Bats on Friday at 7:15 p.m. RHP Justin Lehr is scheduled to start for Louisville, while RHP Kevin Hart is expected to get the nod for Indianapolis.
The contest will be carried by WXLW-950 AM and broadcast live on Comcast and Bright House Networks digital channel 81 with Howard Kellman and Scott McCauley on the call. The pre-game show on WXLW-950 AM begins at 6:55 p.m.