Photo: The second home run was courtesy of Jonathan Van Every, and the fourth home run belonged to Doug Bernier.
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Photo: �Hayden Penn makes a pick-off throw to first base.
While the Indians were busy piling up the run support, Hayden Penn was busy keeping the Durham batters under control. �He buzzed through the first three innings of the game. �He gave up a single to the first batter of the game, CF Desmond Jennings — and then struck out the next three batters, leaving Jennings stranded. �He walked former Indy Indian 1B Chris Richard in the 2nd — and then erased him by getting SS Angel Chavez to bounce into an easy 6-4-3 (Doug Bernier to Jim Negrych to Steve Pearce) double play. �Then Penn retired the side in the 3rd, including two more strikeouts.
The only run the Bulls scored came in the 4th inning, and it was unearned. �Hayden Penn got the first two outs of the inning (grounder and strikeout), then gave up a single into left field to 3B Dan Johnson. �2B Joe Dillon grounded through the hole and into right field, as Johnson moved to second base. �Chris Richard grounded to the right side also, but a slower-moving bouncer, wide of first base. �1B Steve Pearce moved to his right to make the play, but that took him quite a distance from the bag — about a third of the way to second base. �Penn came charging over towards first base to cover for the throw, but Pearce across-the-body throw got to first base before Penn did, and it skipped away, bouncing off the front of the visitors’ dugout and toward home plate. �C Erik Kratz was able to stop the ball, but by then, Johnson had rounded third and came home to score the unearned run. �Penn was able to put the error (throwing, on Pearce) aside, and struck out Angel Chavez on three pitches.
Penn went on to work around a single and a walk in the 5th inning. �In the 6th, he gave up a walk to Dan Johnson, then hit Joe Dillon (or maybe just Dillon’s jersey) with a pitch. �Chris Richard grounded to short, where Doug Bernier made a dive to stop the ball behind second base. �Bernier tried to flip the ball to Jim Negrych to make the force out at second base. �Bernier was off-balance, so his throw was off-balance and forced Negrych to try to change directions at the last second. �That resulted in Negrych being on the ground as well, but he was able to roll and reach and somehow got to the bag just before Dillon did, for the force out at second base. �With runners on the corners, Penn calmly struck out the next two batters to end the inning and leave the runners where they stood.
The Tribe added one final run in the 7th inning, off Durham reliever Justin Garcia. �Jim Negrych led off with his second single of the game, a grounder up the middle. �Steve Pearce crushed a long fly to the base of the wall in center field, and Negrych raced around from first base to score the Indians’ 9th run of the game.
Justin Thomas took over for Hayden Penn to begin the 7th inning. �Thomas pitched two scoreless innings, dropping his ERA to 1.30. �He worked around a lone single in each inning. �Steven Jackson took the 9th inning for the Tribe. �He gave up a two-out triple to Desmond Jennings, but then struck out Matt Joyce to end the game.
Five Indians had two hits in the game: �Doug Bernier, Jim Negrych, Erik Kratz, Brian Myrow, and Jonathan Van Every. �Three Indians had 2 RBI: �Kratz, Jeff Clement, and Van Every.
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Indians’ Hitting Gem of the Game: �How to choose between four home runs? �Well, Doug Bernier’s was his first of the season, and in fact, the first homer he’s hit since the 2008 season, when he hit 9 homers for Colorado Springs in the Pacific Coast League.
Indians’ Defensive Gem of the Game: �In the bottom of the 7th, Bulls’ Fernando Perez lifted a sinking line drive into center field. �Jonathan Van Every came racing in, and with a forward dive, made the catch just before the ball could hit the ground.
Photos: �Jim Negrych got picked off first base in the 3rd inning; �Doug Bernier on-deck.
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Go Tribe!
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(photos by Nancy)
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