INDIANAPOLIS – Noah Murdock, Antwone Kelly, Thomas Harrington and Justin Meis combined for the Indianapolis Indians’ seventh shutout of the season and allowed just two hits as they blanked the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, 9-0, on Saturday night at Victory Field. The Indians’ leadoff batter reached base in every inning.
Kelly (W, 5-5) shined on the mound, as he did not give up a hit over 5.0 innings to silence the IronPigs (12-14, 47-54) batters. After tonight’s outing, Kelly has not allowed an earned run over his last 15.0 frames with the Indians.
Jhostynxon Garcia blasted the scoring open for the Indians (17-9, 48-53), launching a three-run homer in the bottom of the first inning. Enmanuel Valdez followed suit in the third, hammering a solo shot out of the park for a 4-0 Indianapolis lead.
Indianapolis tacked on three more runs in the fifth inning, 7-0, with Ronny Simon, Garcia and Jack Brannigan all touching home. Simon, who entered the contest leading the International League in batting average (.324), led off the fifth inning with a single to extend his hitting streak to eight games. Derek Berg capped off the inning with a two-RBI, bases-clearing double.
Valdez powered the Indians ahead even further in the sixth frame, 9-0, sneaking his third hit of the night in between the first and second baseman for a two-RBI, seeing-eye single.
Alan Rangel (L, 3-5) took the loss for the ‘Pigs after allowing seven earned runs over 4.2 innings.
Indianapolis looks for its fourth-straight series win with a victory in the finale tomorrow. The Indians send southpaw Connor Wietgrefe (3-2, 2.93) to the mound to face Lehigh Valley’s RHP Andrew Painter (0-2, 5.60).