Indians Take Advantage of Bats Errors in July Fourth Victory

INDIANAPOLIS – The Indianapolis Indians used a pair of two-run innings and a three-hit game from Alika Williams to defeat the Louisville Bats 5-3 in their July Fourth celebration at Victory Field on Thursday night.

The Indians (4-5, 37-45) used costly errors by the Bats defense to their advantage early, putting up two runs in the first inning. With two runners on – Ji Hwan Bae reaching safely via error as the leadoff man – Henry Davis hit an infield single that led to Bae scoring on a throwing error by third baseman Edwin Ríos. Another throwing error by shortstop Erik González on a fielders’ choice by Jake Lamb extended the lead to two.

González countered with an RBI single in the second inning, but Indianapolis continued to tack on the runs. In the fifth inning, four of the first five Indians batters reached base safely. Bae led off the offensive attack with a triple, coming around to score on a single by Williams. Lamb then roped a double down the right field line, opening up the lead to 4-1.

The Bats (3-6, 41-42) countered with two runs in the top of the sixth on a run-scoring wild pitch by Luis Cessa (W, 3-3) and RBI double by González. Another error proved costly in the bottom half, however, with the Indians taking one run back in the bottom half on a throwing error by second baseman Livan Soto.

Lyon Richardson (L, 1-6) allowed four of the Indians five runs (three earned) with eight strikeouts across five innings. In total, the Louisville pitching staff racked up 12 strikeouts of Indians batting.

In relief of starter Jake Woodford, Ryan Borucki tossed a perfect inning with three strikeouts on just 11 pitches. He combined with Cessa, Brady Feigl and Ryder Ryan (S, 2) for eight strikeouts in 6.0 innings.

Seven of the Indians 10 hits came from Bae, Williams and Davis, the top three batters in the lineup.

The victory was Indianapolis’ third consecutive in the Fourth of July. In 26 celebrations at Victory Field since 1997, the Indians are 14-12.

The rain-shortened five-game home-and-home series continues tomorrow at 7:05 PM. RHP Domingo Germán (3-4, 5.75) will take the bump for Indianapolis against LHP Justus Sheffield (0-0, 0.00).