Celebrate the win!











Indianapolis Indians 7,  Norfolk Tides  6
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The Indianapolis Indians pulled out another come-from-behind win over the Norfolk Tides this afternoon at Victory Field, and once again the Max Schumacher Victory Bell rang out at the end of the game.  Justin Thomas earned his first win for the Indians, and Tim Wood earned his third save, while 1B Matt Hague (photo) went 3-for-4 at the plate.  Three Indians hit solo home runs:  Hague, LF Alex Presley, and C Dusty Brown.  

The game did not start out well for the Indians.  Lead-off batter 3B Josh Harrison opened the bottom of the 1st with a line drive single into left-center field, but as he took a few steps out of the batters' box, he began to limp.  He limped his way down to first base (ordinarily, he might have made it to second on this hit), then called for time out.  After a brief discussion with trainer Bryan Housand and manager Dean Treanor, Harrison came out of the game.  Chase d'Arnaud came in as a pinch runner, then stayed in the game to play second base, while Brian Friday moved from second over to third base.  There was no further word by the end of the game about Harrison's condition.

Unfortunately, before anything else could happen, d'Arnaud was picked off first base and caught stealing.  The reason that it was so unfortunate for the Indians was that one out later, Presley rocketed a home run over the right field wall for his third home run of the season.  It was a solo homer, but it could have been a 2-run homer.  Hague slapped a sharp grounder up the middle after the home run, but he was left on base.  

Wednesday evening with the Pirates' lower minor league affiliates:

West Virginia Power  7,  Hagerstown Suns  1...... suspended in the 2nd inning
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Jameson Taillon made his pro debut tonight in West Virginia, but Mother Nature made it shorter than might have been planned.  Taillon's first pitch was a strike, and the first batter singled to short.  He got a ground out, which moved the runner to second, then he walked the other phenom in the game -- Suns' RF Bryce Harper.  A double lined to right field brought in the lead runner and put Harper on third base.  Harper walked the next batter to load the bases, but a grounder to SS Drew Maggi started a double play, and Taillon was out of the inning, with only one run in.  

Maggi began the bottom of the inning with a walk, and a passed ball put him on second base.  2B Gift Ngoepe reached base on a throwing error, giving the Power runners on the corners.  DH Matt Curry's single up the middle plated Maggi.  1B Justin Howard moved both the runners into scoring position with a grounder to second, and RF Dan Grovatt brought both in with a double lined into left field.  

With rain falling, Taillon returned to the mound for the second inning.  He gave up a lead-off single, then got two consecutive force outs at second base.  A fly out ended that inning, giving Taillon one run on 3 hits and 2 walks over 2 innings, with no strikeouts.  

The Power added to their lead with 4 more runs in the 2nd.  LF Andy Vasquez and Maggi began the frame with back-to-back walks, and both scored on Curry's double.  Howard brought in Curry with a 2-run homer over the right field wall.  The Suns brought in a new pitcher, who gave up a walk to Gravatt and a double to CF Mel Rojas.  That's when the rain got crazy, and the game was delayed, then suspended.  The two teams will try to resume the game tomorrow at 6 pm, and that will be followed by a 7-inning game.

Jason Jaramillo is greeted by the teammates he drove in with his grand slam











Indianapolis Indians  8,  Norfolk Tides  5
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A grand slam by C Jason Jaramillo gave the Indians the spark they needed to turn the game around tonight at Victory Field, as the Indians came from behind to beat the Norfolk Tides. 

The game began on a good note for the Tribe.  For the first time in a home game this season, the Indians scored first.  They missed out on an opportunity in the 2nd inning, when 3B Josh Harrison lined a single into left field and Jaramillo lined a single into left-center, moving Harrison to third.  A pop up ended the inning, leaving the runners on the corners.  CF Gorkys Hernandez led off the 3rd inning with a grounder through the right side of the infield and into right field.  DH Corey Wimberly dropped down a sacrifice bunt to move Hernandez to second base, and 2B Chase d'Arnaud's long fly out to right allowed Hernandez to advance to third base.  LF Alex Presley singled up the middle, just past the diving SS Nick Green (a former Indy Indian in 2007), and that drove in Hernandez to give the Indians a 1-0 lead.  

Tribe starter Justin Wilson (photo) did his part by starting the game with three hitless innings.  He allowed just one walk over the first three innings.  But then things turned over the next two innings, as two Tribe errors resulted in 5 runs for the Tides.  Wilson began the 4th with a line out, but the next two batters reached base.   A four-pitch walk put Tides' 1B Brandon Snyder on base.  Then 3B John Bell bounced just over the reach of Wilson's glove, and toward the second base bag.  SS Pedro Ciriaco and 2B Chase d'Arnaud both charged toward the ball.  Ciriaco got to it, and tried to take an extra step to reach second base for the force out  -- but he was rushing, and he did not have a good hold on the ball.  The ball fell to the ground, and both runners were safe (photos below).  A pop out gave Wilson the second out of the inning, but kept the runners in place.  Then Green lined a double into left field, over the head of Presley, and off the wall.  That drove in both the runners, giving Norfolk a 2-1 lead.  2B Brendan Harris ran the count full, fouled off a couple more pitches, then took ball four, which brought pitching coach Tom Filer out to chat with Wilson and Jaramillo.  The talking didn't help much, as C Craig Tatum blooped an RBI single into the no-man's-land in short right field, bringing in Green to score.  RF Tyler Henson added another run with a sinking liner into left field.  Wilson struck out CF Matt Angle to end the inning, but 4 unearned runs had scored, and the Tides had a 4-1 lead. 

Photos:  On the left, the ball has just slipped out of Ciriaco's glove -- you can see it in front of d'Arnaud's left knee, below his glove.  On the right, the ball is on the ground, with the runner Snyder beginning his slide into second.