As the Indianapolis Indians took the field on Tuesday night, it was the perfect day for baseball. The skies were clear, the temperature was 87 degrees and Brandon Cumpton was on the mound to attempt to stop the surging Charlotte Knights.

Cumpton gave up two runs in the second inning on a home run by International League home run leader Andy Wilkins. He pitched out of a bases loaded, no outs jam in the third then had an easy 1-2-3 inning before struggling again in the fifth. It was six-run inning – including another home run by Wilkins – that did Cumpton in. He exited the game with one out remaining in the fifth. His final line was hard to look at: 4.2 IP, 12H, 8R (all earned), 2BB, 2K and 2 HR. Prior to tonight’s game his ERA was sitting at a wonderful 1.50, but elevated to 2.61 after a rough performance.

John Holdzkom got the last out of the fifth inning before giving up a solo home run to hometown boy, hailing from Indianapolis, Micah Johnson. He settled in nicely, though and pitched 2.1 innings with only the one run and four strikeouts.

As the tribe remained scoreless and the Knights’ offense continued to power ahead to a 9-0 lead through six and a half innings, the crowd of 9,869 was as silent as the Indians’ bats. Then Jaff Decker doubled with one out in the sixth. Jose Tabata followed with a double of his own and then Brent Morel decided to add another double to the mix and the Tribe was on the board with their first two runs of the game.

The 26-year-old left handed pitcher, from Lawrence Central High School right here in Indianapolis, Jarrett Casey made his Triple-A debut in the seventh inning for the Knights. He pitched 1.2 innings with one run on two hits.

The crowd got fired up as the Tribe strung together a few hits, including an RBI single by Dean Anna before an inning ending double play in the seventh. Things got really interesting for the Indians in the eighth when the inning started with two hits being robbed by diving outfielders – Michael Taylor in right field stole what would have been extra bases from Decker and Matt Tuiasosopo in left field stole a single from Tabata. Those were followed by a walk to Morel, a single by Andrew Lambo and a walk to Tony Sanchez to load the bases. Unfortunately, like it has happened so often for the Tribe’s offense in these first two games against the Knights they were unable to capitalize on a scoring opportunity.

It all came down to the final three outs with the Tribe down by six runs. With Anna on third and Decker on first and two outs, Tabata found himself batting with the game on the line and just couldn’t pull it out as the Tribe lost their second straight game. This time by a final score of 9-3.

In the afternoon game, set to start at 1:35 p.m. on Wednesday, the Indians put the ball in the hands of left hander Adam Wilk.

Indians’ Player of the Game:

Dean Anna

Dean Anna was one of four Indians’ players to go 2-for-4 at the plate. He had one of the Tribe’s three RBIs and was stranded on third base (in scoring position) when the game ended. Defensively, he was involved in started two of the three double plays turned by the Tribe.

Final Box Score:

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Knights	0	2	0	0	6	1	0	0	0		9	15	0
Indians	0	0	0	0	0	2	1	0	0		3	10	0

Winning Pitcher: Erik Johnson (4-6, 6.55)
Losing Pitcher: Cumpton (5-2, 2.61)