Indianapolis Indians  6,  Norfolk Tides  2
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The Indianapolis Indians earned a split of both the 4-game series and the 8-game season series with the Norfolk Tides, with a win today at Harbor Park in Norfolk, Virginia.  Brad Lincoln (photo) earned his second win of the season, following a win in his last start -- his best two starts of the season.  LF Alex Presley provided the big offensive spark, with 3 hits for the second day in a row.  The Tribe posted 12 hits, all singles, with each member of the lineup getting at least one hit.  DH Andrew Lambo was the other batter with a multi-hit game, recording 2 singles and 2 RBI.  In past Mothers' Days and breast cancer awareness days, the Indians had taken advantage of the Magic Pink, using pink bats and jerseys to earn wins.  Today, with the Tides wearing the pink jerseys and wielding pink bats, the Indians had to make do with pink on their spikes, particularly Lincoln's entirely pink shoes.


The Indians missed a scoring opportunity in the top of the 1st, when the first three batters reached base safely.  SS Chase d'Arnaud walked, 2B Pedro Ciriaco lined a single just past the middle infielders and into center field, and Presley lifted his first hit of the game into center field to load the bases.  All three were left right there, though, when 1B Matt Hague and new RF John Bowker both struck out, and C Jason Jaramillo bounced out back to the mound.  3B Brian Friday also singled in the 2nd inning, but was caught stealing second base.  

The next time the Indians loaded the bases, they took advantage of the opportunity.  In the 3rd, the Tribe sent 8 batters to the plate, and scored 3 runs.  D'Arnaud led off with a single, and Ciriaco bunted him to second.  Presley (photo) slapped a grounder over the shoulder of Tides' 1B Rhyne Hughe's shoulder and into right field, and d'Arnaud came around from second to score the first run of the game.  A fielding error at third put Hague on first and moved Presley to second base, then Jaramillo worked a walk to load the bases with two outs.  Lambo came through on a 3-2 pitch, zipping a grounder up the middle, past the swipe of the pitcher's glove, and past the middle infielders through to the outfield.  Both Presley and Hague scored, to give the Indians a 3-0 lead.  There was a brief scare, when Jaramillo slid into second base then got up favoring his right ankle.  Manager Dean Treanor and the training staff checked him out, and Jaramillo was able to walk around a bit and remain in the game.  

Lincoln used the pink shoes to keep the Tides from scoring in the first three innings.  He gave up a lead-off single to RF Tyler Henson, then after two outs, another single to 3B Josh Bell, putting runners on the corners, but got out of the inning with a strikeout.  He also gave up a single to former Indy Indian C Michel Hernandez singled off Lincoln in the 2nd, and walked 2B Ryan Adams in the 3rd, but left them on base too.

Bradenton Marauders  6,  Charlotte Stone Crabs  2
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Three 2-run innings gave the Marauders enough fire power to get past the Stone Crabs and salvage the last game of this 3-game series.  Starter Kyle McPherson earned his second win of the season, allowing 2 runs on 4 hits, no walks, in 7 innings of work.  The 7 innings matched his two previous longest starts this season.  Both of the Stone Crabs' runs came early in the game.  In the bottom of the 1st, a lead-off triple and an RBI ground out put the first run on the board.  A solo home run brought in the second run in the 2nd inning.  McPherson also gave up a double in the 1st, and a single in the 5th, and he hit one batter in the 3rd inning.  He finished strong by retiring the last 7 batters he faced, four of them on strikeouts.

The Marauders went into the 4th inning behind by a score of 2-0.  The only batter to reach base in the first three innings was SS Benji Gonzalez, who singled with two outs in the 3rd, but was picked off second base.  But the bats started booming in the 4th, beginning with a double into left field by RF Robbie Grossman and a triple by 2B Jarek Cunningham, scoring Grossman.  CF Evan Chambers' ground out single drove in Cunningham to tie the game.

3B Kelson Brown singled and Benji Gonzalez walked in the 5th inning, but a double play ended that attempt at a rally.  Cunningham and Chambers opened the 6th with back-to-back singles, and a missed catch error by the Charlotte shortstop on a pick-off attempt let both runners move up a base.  A fielding error by the second baseman on the next play off the bat of 1B Aaron Baker allowed both Cunningham and Chambers to score.  The Marauders took a 4-2 lead. Baker added 2 more insurance runs in the 8th inning with a 2-run home run shot over the right field wall.  He brought in Grossman, who had reached base on a fielding error at third base.  
 
The Stone Crabs did not score again after the 2nd inning.  Diego Moreno relieved McPherson to begin the 8th inning, and he walked one, gave up a single, and struck out two, keeping Charlotte scoreless.  Ryan Beckman took the 9th, and he also pitched a scoreless inning, with one walk.