Indianapolis Indians infielder Nick Yorke homered in his first two plate appearances in a 4-3 win for Indy at the Nashville Sounds on Wednesday night. In the first two games of the series, Yorke is 5-for-9 with three home runs and four RBI. With Wednesday’s win, the Indianapolis Indians moved into sole possession of first place in the International League second half standings.
After Yorke went deep in the first inning, Indians (26-15, 57-59) outfielder Billy Cook also left the yard with his fifth home run of the season to give Indy a 2-0 lead. In the top of the third inning, Yorke went yard again with a solo home run to increase the Indians lead, 3-0.
Nashville (20-21, 63-53) cut into the deficit in the bottom of the fourth inning with a single to right field by catcher Bo Naylor to score two runs. With the lead reduced to 3-2, Indians outfielder Mitch Jebb singled up the middle to score Tyler Callihan in the top of the seventh.
In the eighth inning, Sounds infielder Eduardo Garcia’s sacrifice fly to right field scored Luis Matos to cut into the Indy lead, 4-3, but was not enough for the Sounds to complete the comeback effort.
Antwone Kelly got the ball to start for Indianapolis and went 3.0 innings with six strikeouts and only allowed one hit. Despite allowing two earned runs in 2.0 innings, Khristian Curtis (W, 3-1) came in to earn the win. Brandon Eisert and CD Pelham each logged relief appearances with Beau Burrows earning his 10th save of the season in 1.2 innings pitched with one strikeout and one hit allowed.
Colton Gordon (L, 0-3) took the loss for Nashville despite going 6.1 innings with seven strikeouts, but gave up all four Indianapolis runs on four hits.
The six-game series between Indianapolis and Nashville continues Thursday night at 7:35 PM ET. RHP Thomas Harrington (1-6, 6.42) is scheduled to start for the Indians and RHP Coleman Crow (6-1, 3.74) will take the mound for Nashville.