Tag: Cesar Valdez

Shelby Ford's lead-off home run was a bright spot for the Indians.  












Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees  10,  Indianapolis Indians  3
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A shaky first inning from Tribe starter Rudy Owens gave the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees a lead they would never give up, as the Indians lost at Victory Field tonight.  Owens suffered his 4th loss of the season, and with the Tribe bullpen getting thin, outfielder Corey Wimberly made his professional pitching debut.  The Yankees posted 17 hits and scored in every other inning.  

It was a tough night for Owens (photo).  He lasted 5 innings and allowed 7 runs on 10 hits and 2 walks.  The first inning began with three consecutive hits:  a double by CF Austin Krum, a single by SS Ramiro Pena, and a 2-RBI triple by C Jesus Montero.  The triple hit near the top of the right field wall, over the leaping RF Miles Durham, who then crashed into the wall and fell to the ground, as CF Alex Presley chased down the ricochet.  Montero held at third when 1B Jorge Vazquez grounded to third for the first out of the inning, then Owens walked LF Justin Maxwell.

 Maxwell was leaning off first, and Owens' throw to first picked him off.  Maxwell took off for second base.  1B Matt Hague took a quick look over at Montero on third to make sure he was not thinking of going home on the steal attempt.  But that extra second it took Hague to look to third was enough so that the throw to SS Brian Friday, covering second, was a second too late.  Montero made an awkward slide into second base and Friday's tag was late, and Montero was called safe (photos below).  As Friday looked at the umpire in protest, Montero, still off balance, rolled off the base -- if Friday had held the tag, Montero would have been out.  

  After a strikeout by 3B Brandon Laird, DH Jordan Parraz lined a 2-RBI single into center field, driving in both Montero and Maxwell.  2B Kevin Russo also walked, then RF Dan Brewer's RBI single plated Parraz.  Brewer tried to advance to second base on the throw in from Durham in right, but a quick throw by 3B Andy Marte to Friday this time let Friday tag out Brewer.  The Yankees had a 5-0 lead.

Indianapolis Indians 9,  Pawtucket Red Sox  7
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3B Josh Harrison (photo) went 5-for-5 at the plate to lead the Indians in a come-from-behind win over the Red Sox at McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket, Rhode Island tonight.  Harrison smacked two singles and three doubles, and contributed 2 RBI, as the the Indians scored 9 unanswered runs after trailing the PawSox 7-0.

Justin Wilson made the start for the Indians, but he lasted only two innings.  He was responsible for all 7 of Pawtucket's runs (6 earned) on 5 hits and 3 walks, with no strikeouts.  Home runs were the beginning of the end for Wilson, who gave up 3 in his briefest start of the season.  

With two outs in the bottom of the 1st, Wilson gave up the first homer, a solo blast by DH Hector Luna.  The trouble really got going in the 2nd, when the first four batters reached base safely.  C Michael McKenry led off with another solo home run.  2B Tory Thomas singled, then  3B Brent Dlugach made the score 4-0 with a 2-run homer.  SS Jose Iglesias singled, and moved to second base on a sacrifice bunt by RF Matt Sheely.  Then Wilson walked three consecutive batters --  CF Che-Hsuan Lin on four pitches, LF Daniel Nava on a 3-2 count, and Luna on a 3-1 count.  Luna's walk forced in Iglesias.  A grounder to 1B Matt Hague might have been an inning-ending double play, and Luna was forced out at second, but Harrison's throw back to first was wild, allowing 1B Lars Anderson to reach first safely, and allowing Nava to score from third base.  The inning finally ended with a ground out by McKenry, but the PawSox had a 6-run inning, and led the Tribe 7-1.  

Indianapolis Indians  4,  Pawtucket Red Sox  3
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The Indianapolis Indians posted 10 hits, all singles, to beat a former Indian on the mound for the Red Sox, at McCoy Field in Pawtucket, Rhode Island tonight.  Brandon Duckworth, who pitched for the Tribe in 2006 and earned an 8-3 record and a 2.42 ERA in 12 starts, could not get through the 5th inning tonight, as his former team handed him his 3rd loss of the season.  Indians' starter Rudy Owens (photo) earned his 4th win, going 6 innings and allowing 3 runs on 5 hits.

Both starters pitched three scoreless innings to being their outings.  Owens retired the side in order in the 1st inning, then gave up lone singles, to LF Daniel Nava in the 2nd, and CF Che-Hsuan Lin in the 3rd.  Duckworth also retired the Indians in order in the 1st inning.  1B Matt Hague singled through the hole and into right field in the 2nd inning.  In the top of the 3rd, with two outs, 2B Josh Harrison walked, and CF Gorkys Hernandez singled up the middle, moving Harrison to second base.  The two runners both stole the next base, to give the Indians two runners in scoring position, but a ground out by LF Alex Presley ended the inning.  

Both teams scored one run in the 4th inning, and for both, the run was driven in by a sacrifice fly.  RF John Bowker led off the Tribe's top of the 4th with a walk.  Hague smacked his second single of the game, and DH Jason Jaramillo was hit on the chest below his arm to load the bases with one out.  C Dusty Brown, who had spent parts of the last 5 seasons playing for the PawSox, drove in the first Indians' run with a sacrifice fly.  In the bottom of the frame, Owens walked DH Hector Luna to begin the inning.  Luna advanced to second base on a ground out, then moved to third on a single by LF Daniel Nava, who slipped a grounder into center field, just past the diving reach of SS Brian Friday.  2B Tony Thomas brought in Luna with his sacrifice fly.  

Indianapolis Indians  5,  Scranton /Wilkes-Barre Yankees  3
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The Indians' bullpen shut down the Yankees' bats in the second half of the game, as the Tribe took the first game of this 4-game series at PNC Field in Moosic, PA.  Starter Brian Burres earned his second win of the season, while RF John Bowker and C Jason Jaramillo contributed 2 RBI each.  

The Indians got right down to business in the top of the 1st, opening the game with back-to-back line drive singles into left field by SS Chase d'Arnaud and 2B Josh Harrison.  After a strikeout by LF Alex Presley, Bowker loaded the bases with a line drive single to right field.  1B Matt Hague (photo) made it four line drive singles (to left again), and his single drove in both d'Arnaud and Harrison to give the Indians a 2-0 lead.

The Yankees came right back with two runs off Tribe starter Brian Burres in the bottom of the 1st.  Burres got a ground out, then gave up a single to SS Romiro Pena, followed by a 2-run homer to C Jesus Montero.  LF Justin Maxwell struck out, then 1B Brandon Laird singled, and Burres walked 2B Kevin Russo.  A grounder to short by RF Dan Brewer forced Russo out at second base, to get Burres and the Indians out of the inning, with the score tied 2-2.
 
Burres settled in after that first inning.  Relying on his breaking ball and changeup, Burres retired the next 8 S/W-B batters in a row, before allowing a single in the 4th inning.  Brewer lifted a fly ball into right field, and advanced to second base on a fielding error by Bowker in right.  The error was made meaningless with a fly out to end the inning.  

Andy Marte (right) celebrates with Rudy Owens and Dusty Brown after his 2-run homer.  













Indianapolis Indians  3,  Buffalo Bison  2
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For the third year in a row, the Indianapolis Indians found that the pink breast cancer awareness jerseys brought them luck.  They beat the Buffalo Bison at Victory Field tonight, to win the 4-game series 3 games to 1.  Rudy Owens pitched 7 innings, allowing only one run on 7 hits for his third win of the season.  Former Pirate DJ Carrasco took the loss for the Bison.

This was Owens' (photo) first win in 5 weeks, and only the second game in which he pitched 7 innings (the other was on April 11th).  He did not walk any batters.  He had two strikeouts -- both on Carrasco, who also struck out Owens twice.  

Owens took advantage of three double plays in the first four innings.  His first two innings were twins.  The southpaw gave up a single (to 3B Luis Figueroa in the 1st and to 1B Valentino Pascucci in the 2nd), then got an out (pop up and fly out), then erased the base runner and ended the inning with a double play.  In the 1st, CF Kirk Nieuwenhuis bounced into a standard 4-6-3 (2B Josh Harrison to SS Chase d'Arnaud to 1B Matt Hague) double play.  In the 2nd, LF Jesus Feliciano grounded to first, where Hague stepped on first, then threw to second base where d'Arnaud tagged out Feliciano for the reverse force double play.  

Owens retired the Bison in order in the 3rd, but got into some trouble in the 4th.  Former Indy Indian Luis Figueroa zapped a grounder just inside the third base line and down into the left field corner, where LF John Bowker had to chase it down, as Figueroa raced to third base with a triple.  2B Michael Fisher lined a single up the middle, scoring Figueroa.  Then Owens returned to the first/second- inning form.  He got Nieuwenhuis to fly out, and got Pascucci to ground into an around the horn double play, started by 3B Andy Marte.

Chase d'Arnaud (19) is congratulated after his 2-run homer.











Indianapolis Indians  6,  Buffalo Bisons  1
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Brad Lincoln (photo) won his fourth game in a row with his best performance of the season, pitching 7 scoreless innings to lead the Indians over the Buffalo Bison at Victory Field this afternoon.  This was Lincoln's 8th start overall for the Indians, and the only scoreless start so far.  He went 7 innings for the second time in a row, and struck out 7 batters for the third time this season.  Lincoln allowed only 4 hits, which was the fewest he's allowed since his first start -- and that start lasted only 4.2 innings.  

Lincoln scattered those 4 hits, plus one walk, so that the Bison had only one inning in which two runners reached base.  He retired the first 7 Bison in order, including 3 strikeouts in the first two innings.  Former Indy Indian (2008) C Raul Chavez had the first hit for Buffalo, with a grounder up the middle in the 3rd inning.  The next batter, Buffalo starter Casey Fossum tried to drop down a sacrifice bunt, but the bunt went up instead of down, and 3B Josh Harrison was able to charge in and catch the tiny pop.  Harrison then fired over to first base, where a temporarily confused Chavez had frozen in his tracks several feet away from the bag.  Chavez was easily doubled off the bag for the inning- ending double play.

Lincoln allowed a single to lead-off batter LF Jesus Feliciano in the 4th, then struck out the next two batters and ended the inning with a ground out.  He worked around an infield hits by 3B Michael Fisher in the 5th and by 1B Valentino Pascucci in the 7th.  The 6th was the only inning that Lincoln allowed two Bison hitters to reach base.  With one out, he walked Feliciano.  SS Luis Hernandez grounded to 2B Chase d'Arnaud for what could have been a double play.  D'Arnaud's flip to SS Pedro Ciriaco erased Feliciano at second, but Feliciano's slide made Ciriaco jump out of the way to avoid being taken down, and Ciriaco could not make the throw to first.  That didn't seem to bother Lincoln, though, as he got CF Kirk Nieuwenhuis to tap back to the mound and tagged Nieuwenhuis out himself to end the inning.  

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The throw from first bounced off the runner Ezequiel Carrera and skipped past 2B Pedro Ciriaco.













Indianapolis Indians  7,  Columbus Clippers  3
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Another rainy day, an another win for the Indians.

The Tribe waited out a 95 minute delay before the game even started, then hung on through a drizzly rainy game, to win their fourth game in a row -- their longest winning streak of the season.  They also handed the first-place Columbus Clippers their fourth loss in a row.  Justin Thomas earned his second win of the season, and 2B Pedro Ciriaco blasted a huge 3-run homer, while 3B Brian Friday went 3-for-4 at the plate.

Rudy Owens (photo) made the start for the Tribe, but ended up not being involved in the decision.  Owens pitched 6 innings and allowed only 2 runs, which came in the top of the 1st and involved a strange play.  Clippers' CF Ezequiel Carrera led off with a bunt single, which Owens could not get into his glove.   Owens made a pick-off throw to first as Carrera took off for second.  1B Matt Hague relayed the throw to second, but the ball bounced off the sliding Carrera and eluded 2B Ciriaco.  The ball skipped into left field, and Carrera advanced to third base, as Ciriaco was charged with a missed catch error.  RF Jerad Head tapped back to the mound.  Owens scooped up the ball, glared Carrera into staying put on third base, then threw to first for the out.  3B Lonnie Chisenhall was hit on the hip by a pitch to give the Clippers runners on the corners.  DH Chad Huffman slipped a grounder past a diving Hague, and Carrera scored from third base.  2B Jason Kipnis followed with a long fly ball to center field for a sacrifice fly, which scored Chisenhall for a 2-0 lead.  

The Indians came right back to score one run in the bottom of the 1st off Columbus starter Zach McAllister.  With one out, Ciriaco reached base when 3B Chisenhall made the scoop but dropped the ball on the transfer.  CF Alex Presley blooped a single into short left field, which fell in between two Columbus fielders.  Ciriaco rounded second base and got partway to third, then got hung up as the Columbus LF Josh Rodriguez had the ball and was about to throw it in.  Ciriaco got out of his poor base-running when he made a dash for third, and Rodriguez made a poor throw to third base, as Ciriaco slid in safely.  Presley moved up to second base on the throw to third.  LF John Bowker grounded to short, collecting an RBI as Ciriaco scored from third to cut the Clippers' lead to 2-1.

Two critters on the field appreciated the weather tonight  (look above the umpire's head).







Indianapolis Indians  4,  Columbus Clippers  2
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The Indianapolis Indians won their third game in a row for the first time in the 2011 season as they beat the Clippers at Victory Field tonight.  Tonight's win was also the second in a row at home and the second in a row over the Clippers (the first win in the string was against the Durham Bulls in Durham).  It was also the third night in a row that the Indians allowed their losing opponent to rally and score in the last inning of the game, making things a little more excited than they ought to be.   

The weather was fit only for ducks (!), raining on and off the whole game, with the heaviest rain in the middle innings.  The game was not delayed or halted at any point, though.  

Garrett Olson (photo) made the start for the Indians.  He has been pitching in relief so far this season, and though he made a start in a "bullpen" game for the second game of a double header on April 25th, this was his first start since being officially moved to the starting rotation.  The Indians had stated that Olson would be on a pitch count of about 60, but he had thrown only 26 pitches (14 strikes) when he was lifted after 2 innings.  No word from the clubhouse as to why he left at that point.  Olson struck out the first two batters of the game, then ended the first inning with a fly out (14 pitches).  After a pop out to begin the top of the 2nd, Olson walked Columbus RF Jerad Head, but got 2B Jason Kipnis to bounce to first base, where 1B Matt Hague took one step to touch the first base bag for the out on Kipnis, then fired to second base, where SS Chase d'Arnaud tagged out Head for the reverse-force double play.  

D'Arnaud got the Indians going with a double down to the left field corner and off the wall to open the bottom of the 1st.  2B Pedro Ciriaco grounded through the hole and into left field for a single, moving d'Arnaud to third base.  CF Alex Presley grounded to second base, where Kipnis got the force out on Ciriaco and then threw to first for the double play.  D'Arnaud still scored from third on the play, but Presley did not get credit for an RBI.  The Indians didn't care about that, though -- they had a 1-0 lead.

Durham Bulls  2,  Indianapolis Indians  1
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The Indians and the Bulls took it into extra innings at Durham Bulls Athletic Park in Durham, but it was the Bulls who came out on top.  After taking advantage of an Indians' error, Bulls' LF Justin Ruggiano lined a bases-loaded single for the walk-off win.  

Rudy Owens (photo) made the start for the Indians, one day later than he would have been regularly scheduled, because he was serving out the end of his suspension from last week.  Owens gave up only a single over the first two innings, then found himself needing to work out of big jams in the 3rd and 4th.  With one out in the 3rd, Bulls' SS Ray Olmedo reached base when his Indians' counterpart, SS Pedro Ciriaco, dropped his grounder for an error.  CF Desmond Jennings walked, and Ruggiano beat out an infield hit on a swinging bunt down the third base line.  3B Josh Harrison was not expecting such a short hit, and by the time he charged in to get it, Ruggiano was already at first base.  RF Brandon Guyer stepped to the plate with the bases loaded, and bounced to third, where Harrison made the scoop and instead of trying for an around-the-horn double play, he fired to the plate, and C Dusty Brown made the force out on Olmedo.  Owens struck out 3B Felipe Lopez to end the inning without a run scoring.  

Owens had to work out of a jam again in the 4th.  He walked DH ChrisCarter, then C Robinson Chirinos smacked a grounder to third base, which hit Harrison on the leg and ricocheted all the way behind second base and into short right field.  By the time 2B Brian Friday could track it down, Carter had rounded second and alertly advanced to third base.  1B Leslie Anderson followed with a line drive into right field, scoring Carter from third base with the first run of the game.  There were still two runners on base and no outs.  2B Omar Luna dropped down a bunt that got too close to the mound -- Owens was able to snatch it up and throw to third base for the force out of the lead runner Chirinos.  A single into center field by Olmedo loaded the bases again, but Owens held tight.  He got a pop out (infield fly rule) and a fly out to end the inning without any more runs scoring.  Bulls 1, Indians 0.  

Owens retired the next 6 Bulls in order to finish his evening's work.  In 6 innings, Owens threw 90 pitches (55 strikes), and allowed that one run on 5 hits and 2 walks, with 3 strikeouts.  

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.

Norfolk Tides  8,  Indianapolis Indians  2
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Yesterday the Indians blasted 3 home runs in their win over the Tides.  Today the Tides returned the favor, with 3 home runs off the Indians' pitchers, accounted for all but one of their 8 runs, to tie the series at 1 game each at Harbor Park in Norfolk, Virginia.  

The Indians put runners on base in both the 1st and 2nd innings.  2B Chase d'Arnaud opened the game with a line drive single into left field, but he was erased when SS Pedro Ciriaco bounced into a double play.  1B Matt Hague led off the 2nd inning with another liner into left field.  He advanced to second base on a wild pitch, and moved to third on C Jason Jaramillo's ground out, but a pair of strikeouts left Hague on third.  

3B Brian Friday (photo) began the Indians' third inning in a row with a lead-off single, this time lining into center field.  CF Gorkys Hernandez dropped down a sacrifice bunt to move Friday to second base.  Next up was d'Arnaud, who lifted a long fly ball to center field.  The Tides' CF Matt Angle had trouble finding the ball at first, losing it in the hazy lights.  D'Arnaud, thinking that Angle was not going to find the ball, put his head down, rounded first, and headed for second. Friday held up part way to third, in case the ball was caught.  Angle caught sight of the ball at the last second, raced in and made a desperate lunging catch.  As Friday was scrambling back to second base with a head-first dive, d'Arnaud also was diving head-first into second base.  D'Arnaud crashed into Friday's upper body, knocking him completely off the bag with a roll.  Luckily, the throw back from center field was not right to the second base bag -- and luckily, d'Arnaud did not slide in spikes-first.  Friday quickly rolled back to touch the second base bag, and was still safe at second.  About then, d'Arnaud figured out that his fly ball had been caught and he was out, and he trotted off the field.  Moments later, Friday raced around to score on Ciriaco's RBI single up the third base line.  Ciriaco stole second base (his 7th steal of the season), then LF Alex Presley reached base when his grounder slipped under the glove of Tides' 1B Brandon Snyder.  The ball shot into right field, and though C John Hester plunked himself down in front of the plate to block Ciriaco, the throw in from RF Blake Davis came in up the third base line.  Hester had to go chase after the ball, letting Ciriaco score.  The ball ended up in the dugout, for an error on Davis, and Presley was awarded third base on that error.  He was left on third, though, when Hague struck out to end the rally.  

Alex Presley was named the Indianapolis Indians' Player of the Month for April, and he was presented a watch by Indians' GM Cal Burleson before the game.











Durham Bulls  6,  Indianapolis Indians  1
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The Indianapolis Indians struggled again this afternoon, once again giving up runs in the top of the 1st inning, as they to the Durham Bulls at Victory Field.  The Tribe batters were held to just 4 hits, and managed only one run.  Starter Justin Wilson took the loss, though his work was not the only problem in the game.  While there were no errors charged to the Indians, there were mental and physical mistakes which made the difference in the game.

The game began with a grounder to deep short by Bulls' RF Desmond Jennings.  Tribe SS Chase d'Arnaud fielded the ball cleanly, but his throw to first (photo) was awkward and off-balance, and the throw bounced in the dirt and got past 1B Matt Hague.  CF Justin Ruggiano walked, moving Jennings to second base, then Wilson got a strikeout for the first out of the inning.  DH Chris Carter grounded up the middle, with the ball tipping off the glove of d'Arnaud, who had made an unsuccessful dive behind the second base bag.  Jennings scored from second base on the hit.  1B Russ Canzler followed with a fly ball into left field.  LF Corey Wimberly started coming in, then had to retrace his steps and race back toward the left field wall.  The ball sailed over his head and bounced off the wall, allowing Ruggiano to score the second run of the game.  One out later, 3B JJ Furmaniak lined a single into left field, and Canzler came in to score.  Wilson ended the inning with another strikeout, and the Bulls had a 3-0  lead.