Indians Fan Season-High 16 in Third Straight Victory

INDIANAPOLIS – The Indianapolis Indians bullpen dazzled with 14 strikeouts – 10 coming consecutively – as they outlasted the St. Paul Saints, 6-4, on Thursday night at Victory Field.

After Mike Burrows exited after 1.2 innings and a 2-1 deficit, the Indians (21-19, 54-59) turned to Michael Plassmeyer (W, 3-8), Brady Feigl and Connor Sadzeck (S, 4) to close out the contest. The trio combined for 7.1 innings with 14 strikeouts and only one earned run allowed. Ten of those strikeouts came consecutively, with Feigl fanning all six of his batters faced. In total, Indianapolis tied its season-high with 16 strikeouts for the first time since April 12 at Toledo.

As the bullpen went to work, so did the offense. Indianapolis capitalized on a pair of RBI singles courtesy of Liover Peguero and Billy McKinney to take a two-run lead in the third, with Peguero providing the go-ahead knock. The Indians bats tagged Saints starter Aaron Rozek (L, 0-2) for five runs on 10 hits in 4.2 innings.

Indy and St. Paul (18-24, 56-60) traded runs in the fifth after a Yunior Severino RBI double and a Malcom Nuñez sacrifice fly. Nick Yorke continued his hot streak at the plate in the eighth as he padded the Indians lead with an RBI double. The Saints scored one run off a Severino sacrifice fly in the ninth inning to cap the scoring.

Yorke opened the scoring with an RBI single in the first inning before St. Paul responded with a home run by former Indian Diego A. Castillo and sacrifice fly by Wynton Bernard.

Indianapolis hitters attacked St. Paul pitching for fourteen hits. After Rozek’s departure, the Saints turned to Zack Weiss and Giovanny Gallegos for 3.1 innings and the duo allowed one earned run with one punchout.

Yorke and Henry Davis led the Indians offense with three hits apiece. Since making his Pirates organization debut on July 31, Yorke is hitting .392 (20-for-51) with a .949 OPS.

The Indians and Saints continue their six-game set tomorrow at 7:05 PM at Victory Field. Toeing the rubber for the Indians in his Victory Field debut is Bubba Chandler (1-0, 0.00). Chandler is currently listed as the No. 1 prospect in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization according to MLB Pipeline. Countering for St. Paul is right hander Caleb Boushley (9-5, 4.92).