3B Neil Walker's 2-run blast in the 6th inning broke a 2-2 tie, to get the Indians' 4-game series with the Louisville Bats off to a good start at Victory Field tonight. �[Photo: Neil Walker (right) is congratulated by Andrew McCutchen and Garrett Jones.]

After having at least one hit in each of the Tribe's first five games, Walker fell into a mini-slump, going 0-for-10 in the last two games. �Tonight Walker struck out and grounded out to first base twice, but he had the big hit when it counted in the 6th. �With one out, CF Andrew McCutchen singled into right-center field, and promptly stole second base. �After a strikeout by SS Brian Bixler, Walker took a 1-1 pitch from Louisville starter Ramon Ramirez on a rising line over the right field wall, just to the right of the 362-foot mark. �

Louisville had scored first in the game, when starter Tom Gorzelanny (photo) gave up three consecutive 2-out hits in the first inning. �The Indians came right back in the bottom of the 2nd inning. �RF Garrett Jones led off with a double just barely inside the right field line. �He stole third base, without even drawing a throw from Bats' catcher Craig Tatum. �A sacrifice fly by 1B Steve Pearce brought Jones across the plate to tie the score at 1-1.

The Bats regained the lead in the top of the 3rd inning when 2B Adam Rosales knocked a solo homer over the left field wall. �The Indians didn't let that lead last for long, though. �In the bottom of the inning, 2B Shelby Ford led off with a single up the middle that came back past the mound so fast that it knocked Ramon Ramirez down onto his behind. �Tom Gorzelanny dropped down a perfect sacrifice bunt (photo below) to move Ford to second base. �Ford went to third when Andrew McCutchen hit an oops-checked-swing dribbler -- looked like a bunt but wasn't. �The not-a-sacrifice still did the job of moving Ford on to third base. �

With Brian Bixler at the plate, Ford attempted to steal home plate. �His movement must have rattled the pitcher Ramirez, who balked as he threw to the plate. �The throw was well ahead of Ford, but Ford was safe on the balk, and the score was tied again. �

The score remained tied until the bottom of the 6th, when Neil Walker gave the Tribe a 4-2 lead. �

Gorzelanny pitched 5 innings, and threw 89 pitches (57 strikes). �He didn't look as tight as he did in his first start last Saturday, but he was able to get himself out of several jams. �In the first inning, after the run scored, the lefty stranded 2 runners on base. �He stranded another in the 2nd and another in the third when he walked the batter following the home run. �

Gorzelanny gave up two hits in the 4th inning, and left both of those runners on base. �He put three consecutive batters on base in the 5th, with two walks and a single, but then got a fly out to short left field and a strikeout to end that inning with the bases loaded. �

Overall, Gorzelanny gave up 8 runs and 3 walks in his 5 innings, with 3 walks, but he left 9 base runners stranded. �The Bats left another 4 runners on base in the later innings, for a total of 13 LOB.�

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[Photo: RF Garrett Jones makes a catch in short right field in the 3rd inning -- a gust of wind took the ball at the last second, so Jones had to lean back.]

Gorzelanny must have thought that Louisville LF Norris Hopper had drawn a bulls-eye on his (Gorzelanny's) uniform top. �Hopper faced Gorzelanny three times. �In the 1st inning, he smacked a knee-high liner right back to the mound. �Gorzelanny caught that one, by sticking his glove out in front of himself just in time. �In the 2nd, he bounced a quick grounder back to

the mound, which Gorzelanny fielded neatly and threw to first for the out. �In the 4th, Norris hit another come-backer that hit Gorzelanny's glove and trickled over behind the mound just out of everyone's reach. �Norris was safe at first on that one. �It turns out that Norris was not just aiming for Gorzelanny. �In the 6th inning, he slapped another ball right back to the mound, where reliever Denny Bautista stuck out his hand and the ball hit him, then continued on over to shortstop. �Brian Bixler was able to make the scoop and throw to first to retire Hopper. �Bautista's hand was not injured -- though he should have known better than to do that. �

Bautista put the Bats down in order in the 6th, the only inning he pitched. �He was the pitcher of record when Walker homered, so was credited with the win. �Evan Meek (at the plate in this photo) pitched the 7th a nd 8th innings. �He didn't give up a hit, but walked three batters and left them all stranded on base. �Meek got to take a turn at the plate too -- he watched three straight pitches go by for a strikeout. �Chris Bootcheck pitched the top of the 9th and gave up a 2-out hit, but then got a ground out to Bixler at shortstop to end the game. �He earned his first save of the season. �

The Indians were very efficient at the plate tonight. �They had 5 hits total. �Four of them -- Jones' double, Ford's single, and McCutchen's single followed by Walker's homer in the 4th -- resulted in runs scoring. �The only other hit was a single by C Robinson Diaz in the 7th, and that was followed by their only walk in the game, by Steve Pearce. �Diaz and Pearce were the only two base runners the Indians left on base during the game. �

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[Photo: reliever Denny Bautista]

The Indians finish the first homestand of the season with a game against the Bats on Friday night. �Then the two teams drive down I-65 to Louisville for the last two games of the series.

Indians' Hitting Gem of the Game: �Walker's 2-run homer, the game-winning runs.

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Indians' Defensive Gems of the Game: �Two plays in the 8th inning, to keep the Bats from tying the score. �CF Drew Stubbs led off the inning with a grounder deep behind first base. �2B Shelby Ford dashed to his left to field the ball, then had to spin to get the angle to throw to first, where he just got the ball there in time for the out. �A few batters later, with two runners on base and two outs, SS Chris Valaika lifted a fly ball to short right field. �If it had fallen in, a run could have scored, and the inning would have been extended. �But RF Garrett Jones came charging in and made a sliding catch just before the ball hit the ground, to end the inning. �

[Photo: �Chris Bootcheck]

NOTES:

During the later innings, a duck appeared in left field, walking along the warning track. �She waddled over toward the fowl (uh, foul) line and into the Indians' bullpen, where the kind relief pitchers shared some snacks with her. �

Go Tribe!

(Photos by Nancy Zinni -- MVN)