TOLEDO, Ohio – In game two of the series, the Indians topped the Mud Hens 5-3 on Wednesday afternoon at Victory Field.
Right-hander Drew Hutchison toed the slab as the Mud Hens starter on Wednesday afternoon. After cruising through the first two innings, the heart of the Indians order put together a two-out rally in the third. Cole Tucker doubled to right to set up Kevin Kramer, who turned on a pitch and sent it over the right field wall, putting Indianapolis out front with a 2-0 lead. The very next pitch, Will Craig got a hanging breaking ball and blasted it out to left, giving him his third homer in the past two days.
The Mud Hens offense started slow, but showed signs of life after falling behind early. In the fourth, back-to-back singles from Victor Reyes and Isaac Paredes and a walk to Christin Stewart loaded the bases. Despite the threat, Indians starter Beau Sulser beared down and was able to escape the jam without any damage done, getting Aderlin Rodriguez to fly out to right.
In the top of the fifth, an error from the Indians allowed Brady Policelli to reach first. With one out, Derek Hill singled to right and Zack Short followed it with an RBI double off the left field wall. With runners at second and third, Victor Reyes hit a fly ball deep enough to left to score Hill, making it a 3-2 game.
Drew Hutchison appeared to be in big trouble in the bottom half of the fifth as the Indians put runners at the corners with no outs. Cole Tucker attempted to steal second, but was cut down by Brady Policelli, who was making his first start behind the plate and threw out two runners in this game. Hutchison then got Kevin Kramer to go down on strikes, but a wild pitch in the midst of a walk issued to Will Craig extended the Indians lead and ended Hutchison’s afternoon.
The Indians once again had traffic on the bases in the sixth, this time against Mud Hens reliever Beau Burrows who relieved Hutchison. A flyout to left and then a pair of strikeouts got Burrows through the inning, keeping the deficit at two. Burrows’ final line would be 1.1 innings pitched, one hit, zero runs, one walk, and three strikeouts.
Indianapolis would plate another run in the seventh, thanks to consecutive hits from Will Craig and Dustin Fowler off of Toledo southpaw Robbie Ross Jr.
Christin Stewart homered to start the ninth and a two-out walk to Cole Peterson brought the tying run to the plate, but Indians reliever Braeden Ogle struck out Derek Hill to end the ballgame.
Hens Notes:
With his double in the fifth, Zack Short extended his on-base streak to seven, meaning he has reached safely in every game this year.
With a scoreless eighth pitched, Nolan Blackwood has now thrown three innings of relief this season without allowing a run.
What’s Next:
The Mud Hens and Indians play game three of the series Thursday night at Victory Field with first pitch at 7:05 p.m.