The 3rd inning went better. �LF Kevin Melillo led off with a grounder up the middle, which bounced on the second base bag on its way into center field. �Brandon Moss, who has been on a tear this week, tied the game with a bomb over the right field wall, over the grass berm, all the way to the sidewalk behind the berm — a 2-run homer to tie the game (photo).
The Tribe got to Toledo starter Alfredo Figaro again in the 4th inning. �Brian Myrow led off with a long fly ball to the wall in left field. �Mud Hens’ LF Ryan Strieby initially caught the ball as he was running back, but immediately hit the wall (the scoreboard), and when he hit, he dropped the ball. �Myrow cruised into second base with a double. �Myrow was off and running with the pitch on Alex Presley’s grounder to second, and the Mud Hens had only one play, on Presley at first, so Myrow was safe at third. �That put him in position to score easily when Erik Kratz slipped a low liner into left field, scoring Myrow with the go-ahead run. �Argenis Diaz was next, with a line drive into the right field corner. �Kratz raced around from first, and was waved on as he came to third. �Kevin Melillo made it 5-2 with a sacrifice fly to score Diaz, who slid in just as the throw came in up the line.
Jim Negrych (photo) capped the Indians’ scoring with his third home run since joining the Indians, a solo shot to lead off the 5th inning. �Figaro got Steve Pearce to fly out to the warning track in center field after Negrych’s home run, and that was the end of his evening. �Jeff Clement greeted reliever Josh Rainwater with a double into left field, when LF Strieby (who is really a first baseman) tried to make a sliding catch on Clement’s sinking liner and missed the catch (ruled a hit). �Brian Myrow walked, but Rainwater got lucky when his CF Wells ran in to make a catch on a short fly by Alex Presley. �Myrow had been running from first base because it looked like the ball was going to drop in. �When the catch was made, he couldn’t get back to first base in time, and he was doubled off.
Rainwater retired the Indians in order for the first time in the 6th. �Reliever Ryan Perry, on a rehab assignment from the Detroit Tigers, pitched the 7th inning for Toledo. �He walked Brandon Moss and Steve Pearce, but got out of the inning without allowing a run to score. �The Tribe also went down in order in the 9th, courtesy of reliever Jay Sborz.
After Jeremy Powell had finished his outing, Anthony Claggett came on to pitch the 6th inning. �He struck out two, but gave up a solo home run to 3B Jeff Larish, allowing the Mud Hens to creep a little close, 6-3. �Claggett came back out to begin the 7th as well, and started by giving up back-to-back hits — a double down the left field line by Casper Wells and a single that fell into short right field by Wilkin Ramirez. �Former Indy Indian C Robinzon Diaz made the first out of the inning with a fly ball that Jim Negrych handled behind first base.
The next two batters, Will Rhymes and Jon Weber, are lefties, so manager Frank Kremblas elected to take out Claggett, in favor of the newest member of the bullpen, southpaw Danny Moskos (photo),�who would be making his AAA debut. �Moskos gave up a single looped into center field to Rhymes, which scored Wells from third base (charged to Claggett). �Then Moskos struck out Weber for the second out of the inning. �The next batter, Jeff Frazier, is a right-handed batter, and so Moskos was replaced by Vinnie Chulk. Chulk struck out Frazier to end the inning, but the Mud Hens had snuck a little closer: �6-4.
Chulk also struck out Ryan Strieby to begin the 8th inning. �Then he gave up singles to both Jeff Larish and Brent Dlugach. �A high pop to short (infield fly rule) was the second out of the inning. �Wil Ledezma was next in from the bullpen, to face Wilkin Ramirez. �Ramirez also popped out to short, to end the inning and leave those two runners on base. �Ledezma ended the game in the top of the 9th with three quick outs. �The second was a grounder wide of first base by Will Rhymes, which 1B Jeff Clement charged to his right to field, then flipped to Ledezma covering the bag. �Rhymes disagreed with the out call by umpire Chris Ward, and got himself ejected for his trouble. �The game ended when Ledezma struck out Jon Weber looking at strike three.
The win moves the Indians one game ahead of the Mud Hens in the International League Western Division standings. �That puts the Tribe in second place, 4 games behind the Columbus Clippers, and drops the Mud Hens to third place, 5 games back.
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Indians’ Hitting Gem of the Game: �Home runs by Brandon Moss (his 9th) and Jim Negrych (3rd with the Indians, 4th for the season) were very nice, but so was Argenis Diaz’s first triple of the season, driving in a run in the 4th inning (photo).
Indians’ Defensive Gem of the Game: �The 4-6-3 (Jim Negrych to Argenis Diaz to Jeff Clement) double play on Casper Wells in the 4th inning. �Negrych was deep behind second base when he made the catch, and he made the lateral toss to Diaz to get the play started. �It eliminated Brent Dlugach, who had reached base when Diaz made a high throw on Dlugach’s grounder. �That play had been ruled a hit, but I’m sure it still felt like an error to Diaz.
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Photos: �Left : �Negrych’s home run; � Right: the infield, Argenis Diaz, Brian Myrow, and Jim Negrych
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Left: �Danny Moskos on the mound; �Right: �Jeremy Powell is on the bench, with the towel, as the Indians watch the action on the field
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NOTES:
Brandon Moss has hit 3 home runs in 4 days, and he’s 8-for-16 in those 4 games, with 9 RBI.
Akinori Iwamura was in the dugout again, but did not get into this game. �The plan is to have him play on Sunday, probably at third base.
Reported from infield practice this afternoon: �four different Indians were taking grounders at third base: �Iwamura, Steve Pearce, Brian Myrow, and Kevin Melillo (who is really an infielder).
Daniel McCutchen made the start for the Pirates tonight. �He pitched 6 innings and allowed 4 runs on 7 hits, with 2 walks and 2 strikeouts. �He got no run support though, as the Pirates were held to just 2 hits (by Jose Tabata and Lastings Milledge) and were shut out.
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Go Tribe!
(photos by Nancy)
