Tribe Trip Clippers, Push Division Lead to 6 ½ Games

INDIANAPOLIS - Tribe starter Drew Hutchison silenced Columbus over seven innings as Indianapolis won a 3-1 nail-biter over the Clippers on Friday night at Victory Field. Indy pitching held Columbus to a 1-for-17 showing with runners in scoring position to push its division lead to 6 ½ games.

Indianapolis (73-58) secured the lead in the first against Fort Wayne native Jarrett Grube, scoring two runs on a clutch base hit by Edwin Espinal. The Tribe first baseman cracked a 3-2 pitch with two outs into left-center for a double, giving him seven RBI in his last three games.
Hutchison continued the trend of dynamite pitching from the rotation, delivering seven scoreless innings en route to his 14^th quality start of the season. He finagled himself out of a second-and-third, one-out jam in the fourth by striking out Eric Stamets and inducing a pop up off the bat of Mike Papi.
Erich Weiss gave the Indians some additional breathing room in the home half of the fourth when he launched his fifth home run of the year to the right-field berm.
Hutchison pitched around a leadoff double in the sixth and escaped trouble again in his final inning of work, stranding two more baserunners. Edgar Santana followed suit in the eighth by allowing a pair of singles to start the inning, but he retired the next three batters to keep Indy's margin at three.
The Clippers (67-65) failed to capitalize on scoring chances throughout the night. They put their leadoff man on base in six of the nine innings but failed to push a run across until their final at-bat.
Dovydas Neverauskas walked the tightrope in the ninth and had to exit after striking out Ronny Rodríguez for the second out. With a run already in and two Clippers in scoring position, Dan Runzler nailed down his seventh save on one pitch as Tyler Naquin grounded out to Kevin Newman at short to end it.
Hutchison (8-8) earned the win while Grube (6-8) suffered his first loss against Indy in seven career starts.
The Indians and Clippers play the second contest of their three-game series on Saturday night. Right-hander Nick Kingham (8-6, 3.44) will start for Indy, opposite Clippers southpaw Shawn Morimando (10-9, 4.40). First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m.