It has been no easy feat for the Indianapolis Indians to get back on track after struggling to start the month of August.
After two blow-out victories to end their last non-divisional series against the Rochester Red Wings, the Tribe won their third game in a row on Tuesday night, 3-1, over the Toledo Mud Hens. It appears the Indians are on the right track to work their way from four games behind the Columbus Clippers to take the lead in the International League West Division.
Nick Kingham has struggled lately, but seemed to be back to the pitcher he was when he was promoted to Triple-A in June. After giving up 17 earned runs in his previous four starts, he held the Mud Hens to just one run – a solo home run by Daniel Fields – in seven innings of work. He also struck out six and walked four.
In the third inning, Chase d’Arnaud started the offense with a single. Robert Andino followed with a single to put runners on the corners with no outs. Jose Tabata followed with an RBI force-out and scored on a single by Andrew Lambo. The Tribe’s last run came in the seventh inning, when Matt Hague scored on a fielding error.
After a perfect inning by Wirfin Obispo, the ninth inning fell into the hands of John Holdzkom, who was on the mound for his first save situation since 2007 with the Gulf Coast League Mets. He faced only three batters getting a ground out, foul-tip strikeout and ground out to earn his fourth career save and first since 2006.
The Indians have another game against the Toledo Mud Hens on Wednesday night. It is set to start at 7:00 p.m. with Adam Wilk as the Tribe’s probable pitcher.
Indians’ Player of the Game:
Nick Kingham
The Tribe’s starting pitcher looked on point on Tuesday night. He threw seven innings of one-run baseball with six strikeouts and only three hits. His only run came off a home run. In seven innings, he threw 102 pitches, 80 of which were for strikes.
Final Box Score:
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indians | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 0 | |
| Mud Hens | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
Winning Pitcher: Kingham (5-3, 3.25 ERA)
Losing Pitcher: Kyle Lobstein (8-11, 4.12 ERA)
Save: Holdzkom (1)
Author’s Note:
This content was originally published on the Indiana Sports Report website.
