Monthly Archives: June, 2009

The Iron Pigs scored 4 unanswered runs to overcome the Indianapolis Indians at Victory Field on Tuesday night. �After the Tribe scored in the first inning, they couldn't do it again, as they left 10 batters in scoring position throughout the rest of the game. �The entire game was delayed by 1 hour 37 minutes, as radar showed a storm heading for downtown Indianapolis. �The starting pitchers did not even begin to warm up, and just about at the time the game was scheduled to start, the Grounds Crew covered the infield with the tarp. At around 7:20 pm, the skies got very dark, and the predicted downpour began. �About 45 minutes later, the rain had nearly stopped. �The tarp was pulled, the players began warming up, and play began at 8:37 pm.

When it did get started, the game seemed to be going well for the Tribe. �Starter Jeremy Powell (photo above) retired the side on 8 pitches in the 1st inning. �He allowed only a two-out double to LF David Newhan in the 2nd and another 2-out double to CF Jason Ellison in the 3rd. �

Iron Pigs' starter Gustavo Chacin's first inning was more erratic. �The first three batters he faced hit line drives -- CF Andrew McCutchen's was a single into left field, LF Jeff Salazar's went straight at the SS Miguel Cairo for an out, and RF Garrett Jones' (photo, at third base)�went into right field for a single. �That seemed to rattle Chacin, who then couldn't find the strike zone. �1B Steve Pearce walked on four straight pitches to load the bases. �3B Neil Walker also took four straight pitches, to force in the Tribe's only run of the game as McCutchen crossed the plate. With the bases still loaded, C Adam Melhuse ran the count full -- then dashed the Tribe's hopes by grounding into a 6-4-3 (Cairo to Pablo Ozuna to Andy Tracy) inning-ending double play. �

Lehigh Valley tied it up in the 4th inning. �For the third inning in a row, Jeremy Powell got two outs, then allowed a hit, this time a single into left by Miguel Cairo. �But this time, Powell did not go on to get the third out. �Instead, he gave up two more consecutive singles. �Cairo, who had stolen second base, scored on David Newhan's single. �Former Indy Indian (2005 -06) JJ Furmaniak (photo) bounced a grounder to short, and as Tribe SS Chris Barnwell was going to his right deep at short to field it,�

3B Luis Cruz raced to his left in an attempt to field it also. �Cruz �saw that he was not going to be able to make the play, but it was too late for him to pull up, and he cut across Barnwell's sight line as he was tracking the ball, and Barnwell couldn't make the play. �

Powell went on to retire the side in order in the 5th inning. �He finished after 5 innings, having allowed one run on 5 hits, no walks, and struck out 3 batters. �He threw 75 pitches, 49 of those for strikes. �He left the game with the score tied, and so did not factor into the decision, though he had pitched well. After the game, Powell said that he feels like he's settling back into being a starting pitcher again, which is the role he'd played for the past several seasons while pitching in�Japan.

Juan Mateo came out of the bullpen to begin the 6th inning. �He faced only one batter over the minimum for his three innings of work. �Unfortunately for the Tribe, that one batter was 1B Andy Tracy, who crushed a solo home run into the ground cover in front of the batters' eye trees behind the center field wall. �Mateo also gave up a single to JJ Furmaniak in the 7th, but Furmaniak was thrown out trying to steal second base. �

Denny Bautista pitched the 9th inning for the Indians, and that was when the Iron Pigs picked up two insurance runs. �Andy Tracy led off with a single into right field, and he scored when Miguel Cairo smacked a double to the base of the right-center field wall. �Bautista got two outs, then RF Jeremy Slayden lined a 1-0 pitch into short left field. �Jeff Salazar raced in and made a last-ditch-effort dive, but the ball skipped past him, and Slayden had an RBI double, giving the Iron Pigs a 4-1 lead.

After Gustavo Chacin's inconsistent first inning, he settled in... just a bit. �He retired the Tribe in order in the 2nd inning. �In the third, Jeff Salazar slipped a single under Pigs' 2B Pablo Ozuna's glove. �He went to second when Steve Pearce walked for the second time. �That brought up Neil Walker (photo, in the first inning), with two outs and runners on first and second. �Walker tapped a little grounder back to Chacin, who scooped it up and turned to throw to first -- only to find that no one was there to cover the bag. �It became a foot race to first between Chacin and Walker, and when it looked like Walker was going to win, Chacin cut over towards the base line in front of first base in hopes of tagging Walker before he got to the bag. �Walker saw the tag coming at the last second, and in order to avoid it, he made a head-first dive into first. �It didn't work. �Chacin tagged Walker's back as he went by, for the third out. �And Walker did not get up for several mi nutes. �Brian Bixler, who had been coac hing at first base, went to Walker's side as he remained kneeling on the ground, and Bixler immediately signaled to the dugout for help. �When he did finally get up, Walker was holding his left wrist and hand. �He walked off the field with trainer Jose Ministral, and the two went right down into the club house. �There was no word about his injury for the rest of the game. �Luis Cruz took over for Walker at third base. �

The Indians put men on base in each of the remaining innings. �Chris Barnwell was hit by a pitch and Jeremy Powell walked in the 4th inning, as Chacin's wildness returned. �A ground out ended that minor threat. �Three Iron Pigs' relievers pitched the final 5 innings. �They scattered singles by Garrett Jones, 2B Shelby Ford, and 9th inning pinch-hitter Brian Bixler, �as well as walk #3 to Steve Pearce, and walks to Jeff Salazar and Adam Melhuse. �Shelby Ford also reached base in the 8th on a throwing error, when Pablo Ozuna bobbled a ground ball then rushed his throw, which flew well to the home plate side of first base and landed in front of the Iron Pigs' dugout. �Timely strikeouts and two more double plays ended the innings without the Tribe being able to push any more runs across. �

Juan Mateo, who had given up the home run to Andy Tracy, was charged with the loss, his third of the season. �In addition to 7 walks, the Indians had only 5 hits in the game, and all were singles: �two by Garrett Jones, and one each by Andrew McCutchen, Jeff Salazar, �Shelby Ford, and Brian Bixler. �That put an end to the Indians' streak of 50 games (every game up 'til now in the season) with at least one extra-base hit. �

Indians' Hitting Gem of the Game: �Two singles by Garrett Jones, one in the 1st inning, and another in the 5th. �

Indians' Defensive Gem of the Game: �In the top of the 3rd inning, with two outs and Jason Ellison on second base, C Lou Marson hit a sharp grounder towards the hole between first and second bases. �Just as it looked like the ball was going to go through, Steve Pearce, going to his right, made a dive and got the ball. �Remember, unlike a lot of first basemen, Pearce is right-handed, so he had to make the back-handed stab to come up with this one. �He scrambled to his feet and tossed to Jeremy Powell, who had raced over from the mound to cover, and they had the third out. �If Pearce had not made the catch, the inning would have at least been extended for the meat of the Iron Pigs' line-up, and Ellison might have scored from second base. �

NOTES:

Steve Pearce's 3 walks in the game give him a total of 28 for the season. �That's second place in the International League. �(Pawtucket's Paul McAnulty has 30.)

The mental error committed by Luis Cruz in the 4th, when he cut in front of Barnwell, was not the first time he'd done something like that. �On May 2nd, when Cruz was playing at first base, he ranged wide to his right to make a stab of a grounder in the hole between first and second base. �He made the catch, but made a poor throw to pitcher Romulo Sanchez, who had to run over to cover first. �But 2B Shelby Ford was already in perfect position a little deeper behind Cruz, and if Cruz had held up and instead covered first base, Ford would have been able to make the play easily and throw out the base runner. �In both cases, it turned out not to matter, as the miscue did not result in a run scoring, but sooner or later, it could happen in a more critical situation.

Besides JJ Furmaniak, there are two other former Indy Indians on the Iron Pigs' roster, all of whom were with the Indians at the same time. �OF Rich Thompson (2005 - 06) (photo) got into the game as a pinch hitter last night. �He's recently spent some time on the Iron Pig's DL. �INF Jorge Velandia (2005) did not get into this game. �Radio guys Howard Kellman and Scott McCauley reported that Velandia told them that this would be his last season as a player. �He is considering coaching, but has yet to make a decision.

The Indians are scheduled to play at 1 pm on Tuesday �(today) -- mid-morning now, and it's as dark as it was at about 5:30 am, and the rain is pouring down.�

Go Tribe!

[Photos by Nancy Zinni -- MVN]