The Indianapolis Indians must have used up too many of the hits in their bats in yesterday's 10-4 win, because today they were back to scoring just one run, as they did in the two previous games against the Toledo Mud Hens. Tonight at Victory Field, the Tribe posted just 4 hits on their way to their lone run, while the Mud Hens stacked up 12 hits and 5 runs.
Rudy Owens (photo) struck out a season-high 8 batters in his start for the Tribe, but he also gave up 8 hits and could not get through the 5th inning. He was charged with his 6th loss of the season, giving him a 6-6 record.
The game began with LF Will Rhymes lining a double into right field for a double. Owens struck out the next two batters, 3B Danny Worth and rehabbing 2B Carlos Guillen. DH Ryan Strieby lined a single into left field, and Rhymes raced around to score from second base. Owens struck out former Indy Indian CF Jeff Salazar to end the inning, then began the 2nd by striking out 1B Scott Thorman. RF Ben Guez doubled into center field with one out in the 2nd, but a fly out and another strikeout left Guez on base.
Owens also worked around a one-out hit by Worth in the 3rd -- a bloopy hit that fell into no-man's land behind first base, out of reach of Tribe RF Miles Durham, 1B Matt Hague, and 2B Corey Wimberly. Salazar struck out again to lead off the 4th inning. Thorman singled into right field, then with two strikes on Guez, Thorman took off to try to steal second base. Guez swung and missed on strike three, and as he finished his swing, he stumbled a bit, causing his bat to come around and hit C Dusty Brown. Brown was in the middle of throwing to second base as he was hit by the bat, and it caused his throw to go off-target. Guez was out on the strikeout, and since he was already out, the penalty for the batter interference ruling was that the base runner Thorman was also called out at second base.
Earlier today I posted a rundown of the injured players on the Pittsburgh Pirates' 40-man roster, noting the estimated returns. Several players are expected...