ARCHIVES
Indians Rally Falls Short In Opener
Columbus Clippers 4, Indianapolis Indians 3
The Indianapolis Indians staged a late-inning rally, but it was not enough, as the Columbus Clippers held on to win on Opening Day at Victory Field. 
Brian Burres (photo) made the start for the Tribe, and he suffered the loss. He got through the first two innings allowing only a walk. The top of the 3rd began with Burres giving up an infield hit to Clippers' SS Luis Valbuena. Valbuena dropped a bunt down toward third base. Tribe 3B Josh Harrison made a nice pickup, but 1B Matt Hague could not make a clean catch of the quick throw, and the speedy Valbuena was credited with a hit. Valbuena stole second base, then Burres walked former Indy Indian C Luke Carlin. Indians' C Dusty Brown helped Burres out by picking Valbuena off second base -- caught him napping. Burres looked like he might get out of the inning when he struck out CF Ezequiel Carrera, but DH Cord Phelps, who went 3-for-3 with 2 walks in the game, tripled to the right-center field wall, driving in Carlin from first base, to give the Clippers a 1-0 lead.
Burres gave up two singles in the 4th inning, but got out of that jam with a timely double play, started by SS Pedro Ciriaco, and turned by Chase d'Arnaud at second base. Burres got into more trouble in the 5th, though. He walked Valbuena, then gave up a single to Carlin. Once again, Dusty Brown came to the rescue, throwing out Valbuena trying to steal third base. Carlin remained on first base on the play, and when Carrera grounded to second, Carlin was out in a force play at second base. Unfortunately for the Tribe, Carlin disrupted Ciriaco enough so that he couldn't get off a throw to first base, leaving Carrera at first base. Phelps stepped to the plate next, and smacked his second hit of the game down the left field line. LF Alex Presley got to the ball quickly, but he had to make two grabs at it before he could pick it up. By the time he could get the ball back in, Phelps was on second, and Carrera had scored. 
At the same time, the Indians were not having much luck against Columbus starter David Huff. They were putting runners on base, but were not able to push them around to score. CF Gorkys Hernandez began the bottom of the 1st with a walk, but was out in a double play. Presley lined a single into right field, but he was picked off first base and caught in a run-down. D'Arnaud (photo) doubled over the head of the Clippers' right fielder, sending the ball all the way to the wall, in the 2nd inning, but he was left on base. Harrison and Brown worked back-to-back walks in the 5th, but Harrison was caught trying to steal second base, and Brown was left stranded.
Brian Burres exited the game after 5 innings of work. He threw 75 pitches (46 strikes), and gave up those 2 runs on 6 hits, with 3 walks and 3 strikeouts. Tony Watson came on in relief for the 6th inning. Watson had trouble finding the plate, and went to the full count (plus foul balls) on the first three batters he faced. He struck out Clippers' RF Chad Huffman, but then walked both 2B Jason Kipnis and LF Jordan Brown. A fly ball, tracked down and caught on a nice play by RF Andrew Lambo, gave Watson the second out. Another fly ended the inning. Watson had thrown 33 pitches (19 strikes).
Pre-Season Photos
Some photos from spring training... this was a game against the Twins a few weeks ago, but I was having trouble uploading photos. These are in no particular order. Some of the minor leaguers got into the game in the late innings.
Andrew McCutchen................. Jose Tabata
Pedro Alvarez........................Neil Walker
