The Indianapolis Indians got a superb start from Jeff Locke and plenty of offense as they beat the Louisville Bats 6-1 Wednesday night before a sellout crowd of 14,504 at Victory Field. It was the Indians’ fifth straight win over the Bats.
Locke gave up just one run on one hit in seven innings of work to improve to 7-4 on the season and help the Indians (55-31) to their eighth straight victory overall.
The Indians, for the fourth time in the series, were the first on the board. Chase d’Arnaud’s two-run home run in the first inning gave Indianapolis and early 2-0 lead. It was the third time in the series the Indians scored in the first inning.
Indianapolis extended their lead in fourth on a sacrifice fly from Yamaico Navarro and a solo home run from Tony Sanchez.
Louisville’s one hit off Locke came in the sixth inning when Kristopher Negron tripled. Negron later scored on a sacrifice fly from Cody Puckett.
The Indians scored in the sixth and the eighth on Jeff Clement solo home runs. Clement now has 12 homers on the season, which leads his team.
The Bats (31-57) lost for the eighth straight time. The losing streak comes on the heels of a nine game winning streak. During the skid, the Bats have been outscored 58-20.
The two teams wrap up their six game split series Thursday night. The Bats will have Chad Reineke (3-6, 4.30 ERA) on the mound against the Indians’ Daniel Cabrera (4-3, 4.48 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
Of Note: Willie Harris and Felix Perez were both placed on the Bats’ disabled list prior to Wednesday’s game with undisclosed injuries. Filling their spots, catcher Brian Peacock and infielder Henry Rodriguez were transferred to Louisville. Rodriguez will make his Triple-A debut when he plays for the Bats.
