Knights �4, �Indians 3 �– suspended in the 5th
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A power outage forced the second suspension in two days for the Indians and the Knights at Knights’ Stadium in the suburbs of Charlotte, NC. �While the lights were still on in the stadium concourse, the entire playing field as well as the scoreboard went dark for about 20 minutes at the start of the 5th inning. �At the time, the score was tied at 3-3. The game was resumed without any problems a short time later, and without major disruptions to either team’s pitching staff. �But in the bottom of the 5th, after the Knights had taken the lead, the power went out again, and this time, some of the concourse lights went out too.
The Indians struck first in the regularly scheduled game. �With one out in the top of the 1st, LF Kevin Melillo walked, then stole second base. �1B Brian Myrow (photo) blasted a home run to straight-away center field, no-doubt-about-it, to give the Indians a quick 2-0 lead.
The Knights got one run back in the 2nd inning. �Starter Jeremy Powell retired three batters in order in the 1st inning, but gave up a solo home run to DH Stefan Gartrell in the 2nd inning. �The Tribe got the run back again in the 4th inning. �3B Pedro Alvarez led off with a grounder to deep behind third base, and beat out the throw to first for an infield single. �C Luke Carlin grounded to short for what looked like a double play ball, but Alvarez was off and running with the pitch, and by the time the ball got to Charlotte SS (former Pirate farmhand) Brent Lillibridge, Alvarez was already at second base, and the only play was at first to get Carlin. �RF Brandon Moss drove a liner down the right field line, slipping just past 1B Dayan Viciedo and into right field for a double, scoring Alvarez.
The Tribe had a 3-1 lead at the middle of the 4th, but Powell (photo) had some trouble in the bottom of the inning. �With two outs, Josh Kroeger walked. �Kroeger was moving toward second on the 1-1 pitch, and as he ran, 2B Argenis Diaz also started toward second base. �That opened up a hole, and Gartrell took advantage of that hole to slip a single into right field. �LF Jordan Danks followed with a double off the top of the left field wall, just a little higher than Kevin Melillo could jump, scoring both Kroeger and Gartrell to tie the score at 3-3.
That was the point at which the power went out for the first time. �Power was restored to the field lights fairly quickly, and the game resumed in the top of the 5th. �CF Jose Tabata reached base when Charlotte 1B Dayan Viciedo missed the catch on what should have been a routine grounder. �Tabata scrambled around to second base as the Knights were tracking down the ball, then he promptly stole third base. �Brian Myrow walked to put runners on the corners, but two strikeouts around Myrow’s walk ended the inning, leaving Tabata still on third base.
The bottom of the inning started ominously for Powell and the Indians. �Lead-off batter 2B Luis Rodriguez took Powell’s first pitch over the right field wall to give Charlotte a 4-3 lead. �Powell got the next batter to fly out. �Then, with a 1-2 count on CF Buck Coats, the power went out again. �This time things were darker. �And, this time, it was not so easy to turn the lights on again. �In fact, the lights went on — off — on again — off again — on again — off again…. and at that point, the game was suspended until Sunday.
The restart will be at 12:30 pm on Sunday afternoon, and it hopefully will not require any supplemental lighting. �If this had been a problem caused by rain, the game would have been declared a complete game, because the Knights were leading after 5 innings. �But since this was not a rain problem, apparently the rules are different. �The regularly-scheduled game on Sunday will be played after the suspended game… not sure how many innings that one will be.
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NOTES:
Neil Walker hasn’t stopped hitting since he left the Indians. �He had a single and a double (and a walk) in tonight’s Pirates game against the Atlanta Braves. �Yesterday, he doubled twice with an RBI.
Former Indian and Pirate Ronny Paulino had the not-so-wonderful distinction of making the last out in Phillies’ Roy Halladay’s perfect game. �Paulino came in as a pinch hitter, and grounded out to third base.
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Go Tribe!
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(Photos by Nancy)
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