INDIANAPOLIS INDIANS GAME INFORMATION 501 West Maryland Street - Indianapolis, IN 46225 ♦ (317) 269-3542 ♦ @IndyIndians ♦ IndyIndians.com/MediaKit Indianapolis Indians Friday, June 18, 2021 7:05 PM ET Memphis Redbirds 21-17 (2nd, 6.0 GB, AAA-E MW) Victory Field ♦ Indianapolis, IN 15-24 (7th, 10.5 GB, AAA-E SE) RHP Max Kranick (1-1, 3.14) Game #39 / Home #16 LHP Matthew Liberatore (1-3, 4.73) Radio/TV: FoxSportsIndy.com / AM 1260 / iHeart app / MiLB TV/ MyINDYTV 23 2021 at a glance indy bits series history Overall 21-17 2021 @ IND: 3-0 Home 12-3 LAST NIGHT: Facing a 2-1 deficit and down to their last strike in the bottom of the 10th inning, the Indians tied the game and went on to beat Road 9-14 2021 @ MEM: no games Place 2nd Memphis in 11 innings, 3-2. Anthony Alford worked a seven-pitch walk to extend the bottom of the 10th inning, and T.J. Rivera came around to score All-Time @ IND: 3-0 (1.000) GA/GB 6.0 GB when second baseman Irving Lopez bobbled a ground ball off the bat of Jared Oliva. In the bottom of the 11th, Wilmer Difo shot a single into center All-Time @ MEM: no games Streak W5 Regular Season Totals: 3-0 (1.000) Home Streak W3 field to score Hunter Owen from second base as the winning run. Memphis got on the board first with a leadoff home run by Kramer Robertson and Road Streak W2 Longest Winning Streak 5 the Indians tied the game in the fifth inning off an RBI single by Alford. 2021 TEAM COMPARISON Longest Losing Streak 7 Indians Redbirds Last 5 5-0 Last 10 6-4 CODY WAS QUALITY: Cody Ponce tossed seven one-run innings last night for his first quality start of the season. He fanned a season-high nine batters .224 BA .223 Home Openings/Lost 13/1 in the outing, his most since recording a career-high 12 strikeouts on July 9, 2016 at High-A Bradenton. His lone run allowed came on a leadoff homer to 163 R 153 Home Attendance 49,481 274 H 276 Avg. Home Attendance 3,534 Kramer Robertson, and he surrendered six hits in the outing with no walks. Ponce now ranks ninth among Triple-A East qualifiers with a 1.31 WHIP. He 54 2B 50 League Rank (Total/Avg) 16th/11th 6 3B 10 exited the game in a 1-1 tie and took the no-decision as the Indians improved to 2-1 in extra innings. 41 HR 38 Day Games 3-4 150 RBI 143 Night Games 18-13 463 TB 460 Before All-Star Break 21-17 DIFO’S DEBUT: Last night’s walk-off single in the 11th inning was Difo’s first hit in his first game with Indianapolis since joining the team on Wednes- 157 BB 139 After All-Star Break 0-0 day. He appeared in 44 games with the Pirates to begin the season and hit .244 (20-for-82) with six extra-base hits, six RBI and seven runs scored 388 K 346 May 11-12 23 SB 17 June 10-5 before being designated for assignment on June 8 and outrighted to Indianapolis. The 29-year-old last appeared in Triple-A in 2019 with Fresno and 7 CS 10 July 0-0 hit .300 (70-for-233) in 61 games. He owns a .279 (79-for-283) career Triple-A average with 16 doubles, three triples, four home runs and 32 RBI in .320 OBP .308 August 0-0 .378 SLG .371 September 0-0 73 games. Tuesday 6-1 329.1 IP 341.1 Wednesday 2-3 3.77 ERA 5.48 Thursday 3-5 PITCHING PERFORMS: The Indians are one of two teams in the Triple-A East with a 3-0 lead over their opponents to begin the current series, and it’s 1.27 WHIP 1.53 Friday 4-3 thanks in large part to their pitching staff. Indianapolis pitchers own a 0.93 ERA (3er/29.0ip) over the past three games with a 0.76 WHIP, .160 aver- 9 SV 3 Saturday 4-1 288 H 346 Sunday 2-4 age against (16-for-100) and a 5.33 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Last night, five Indians pitchers combined for 11.0 innings with two runs (one earned) on 151 R 224 Game 1 6-1 seven hits. They allowed no walks in the game and struck out 13 en route to the win. With the go-ahead run 90 feet away for Memphis in the top of the 138 ER 208 Game 2 2-5 11th inning, Kyle Keller closed out the game and earned the win with back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning. 40 HR 53 Game 3 4-3 16 HB 20 Game 4 3-3 130 BB 176 Game 5 5-1 ALFORD ON BASE: With an RBI single last night, Anthony Alford has extended his hitting streak to six games and has reached base safely in 12 369 K 335 Game 6 2-3 consecutive contests since June 1 vs. Columbus. This month, Alford owns a .417 average (15-for-36), .553 on-base percentage and 1.359 OPS. Scoring First 15-5 INDIANS VS. THE AAA-E Opponent Scores First 6-12 Dating back to June 10 at Nashville, the beginning of his hitting streak, Alford has gone 8-for-19 with two doubles, two home runs, five RBI and seven Comeback Wins 7 vs. Teams At/Above .500: 5-10 Opponent Comeback Wins 7 runs scored. vs. Teams Below .500: 16-7 Extra Innings 2-1 vs. AAA-E Midwest: 15-14 Shutout Record 1-2 VICTORIES AT THE VIC: With the win vs. Memphis last night, the Indians are now 12-3 (.800) at Victory Field for their best start to a home campaign vs. AAA-E Southeast: 6-3 Doubleheaders 2-0 vs. AAA-E Northeast: no games Commit An Error 7-13 since the 2013 season. In 2013, Indy began the season with a 17-3 (.850) record at home through May 12 and had a 27-11 (.711) overall record in that Commit No Errors 14-4 Series (W-L-S): 3-2-1 Walk-Off Wins 2 span. The Indians ended that season 41-31 (.569) in the Circle City. The best Victory Field record in a single season came in 1997, the Indians first full Sweeps: 0-1 Walk-Off Losses 3 year at the corner of West and Maryland Street, when they went 49-23 (.681). Scoring 4+ Runs 18-6 2021 AAA-E STANDINGS Scoring 3 Or Fewer Runs 3-12 Outhit Opponent 12-5 TONIGHT: The Indians will play for the series victory vs. Memphis tonight at 7:05 PM ET. With a win tonight, the Indians would extend their winning MIDWEST Outhit By Opponent 6-11 streak to six games and tie their longest such streak since April 7-13, 2019. Tonight also begins a streak of Indianapolis facing three consecutive Teams Tie in Hits 3-1 Team W-L GB Indy Hits HR 17-8 left-handed starters to round out the series vs. the Redbirds, beginning tonight with RHP Max Kranick vs. LHP Matthew Liberatore. OMA 27-11 - Indy no HR 4-9 IND 21-17 6.0 Opp. Hits HR 11-13 TOL 20-18 7.0 Opp. no HR 10-4 KRANICK: Max Kranick will make his fourth start with the Indians and his third at Victory Field tonight vs. Memphis. Last time out on June 12 at STP 18-21 9.5 Lead After 6 17-2 Trail After 6 2-14 Nashville, Kranick tossed a gem and allowed just one hit through five innings to earn his first Triple-A win. The 23-year-old also tied a career high with COL 17-21 10.0 Tied After 6 3-1 nine strikeouts for the first time since June 16, 2018 vs. Single-A Delmarva. In his three Triple-A starts, Kranick is 1-1 with a 3.14 ERA (5er/14.1ip) and IOW 13-24 13.5 Lead After 7 16-1 LOU 13-25 14.0 Trail After 7 1-14 16 strikeouts. He entered the season rated as Pittsburgh’s No. 30 prospect by Baseball America. He was also rated as Pittsburgh’s No. 28 prospect Tied After 7 4-2 with a Control grade of 55 by MLB Pipeline prior to the season. NORTHEAST Lead After 8 16-0 Trail After 8 0-14 Team W-L GB Tied After 8 3-3 BATTLE OF PITCHING PROSPECTS: Max Kranick will face off against southpaw Matthew Liberatore in a battle of top prospects in the Pirates and SWB 26-11 - WOR 25-14 2.0 Vs. LH Starter 4-4 Cardinals systems. Liberatore entered the season rated as St. Louis’ No. 2 prospect and No. 45 overall by Baseball America. Liberatore is 1-3 this Vs. RH Starter 17-13 BUF 19-18 7.0 season with a 4.73 ERA (14er/26.2ip) and 25 strikeouts in five starts. He is coming off his first win of the season on June 12 vs. Gwinnett when he LHV 19-20 8.0 league leaders surrendered one earned run on four hits in 5.1 innings. ROC 15-24 12.0 SYR 11-28 16.0 Category Player No. Rank OBP Alford .425 3rd current homestand BY THE NUMBERS SOUTHEAST OPS Alford .936 8th Games 3 ERA 0.93 (3er/29.0ip) Team W-L GB 2B Sharpe 11 T-3rd 3B Tucker 2 T-7th Record 3-0 Starter W-L 2-0 DUR 25-13 - BB Alford 21 T-7th Average .227 (22-for-97) Starter ERA 1.00 (2er/18.0ip) 17 K NAS 25-13 - Runs (Avg/Gm) 15 (5.0) Reliever W-L 1-0 JAX 22-16 3.0 ERA Sulser 3.82 8th XBH (Avg/Gm) 6 (2.0) Reliever ERA 0.82 (1er/11.0ip) The Indians struck out a season-high 17 times last night in the 3-2 win over GWN 20-19 5.5 Marvel 3.86 9th Home Runs 4 Walks 6 Memphis.