COLUMBUS, Ohio – Duce Gourson hit his first Triple-A home run in the second inning, Shawn Ross hit a solo shot later in the frame and Enmanuel Valdez hit a grand slam in the fifth as the Indianapolis Indians swept the three-game weekend series over the Columbus Clippers with a 13-6 win on Sunday afternoon at Huntington Park. It marked Indy’s first sweep of three-plus games at Columbus since taking all four contests to begin the season from April 4-6, 2014.
Valdez’s 13th home run of the season broke open the dam for a 13-0 Indianapolis (14-7, 44-51) lead in the fifth inning, as the Indians put up eight runs on the Clippers (9-12, 50-45) in the frame. It marked the third time this season Indy has scored eight runs in a stanza, also doing so in the seventh inning on April 3 at Columbus and in the fourth inning on July 4 at Omaha. Prior to this season, Indianapolis had not scored eight in a frame since the eighth inning on Sept. 10, 2024, vs. Rochester.
Gourson put Indy on the board in the second inning with a towering two-run blast, traveling 404 feet to right center field. Later in the inning, Ross laced his third homer of the season to left for a 3-0 lead. The Indians tacked on two more runs in the fourth with an RBI single from Termarr Johnson and a sacrifice fly from Ronny Simon for a 5-0 advantage.
Columbus scored a pair of runs in the fifth, eighth and ninth innings for their six tallies.
Antwone Kelly tossed 4.0 scoreless innings to begin the ballgame. Brandan Bidois pitched the fifth and Nick Dombkowski (W, 4-4) tossed 3.0 innings of two-run ball to follow. Derek Diamond recorded the final three outs to seal the sweep. Yorman Gómez (L, 0-2) started for the Clippers and allowed seven runs in 4.1 innings.
Indianapolis has an off day on Monday before beginning a six-game homestand with the Lehigh Valley IronPigs on Tuesday, July 21 at 7:05 PM. Starting pitchers have not been named at this time.