Indians lose by one run for second time this week, 10th time on road
By Jack McMullen
DES MOINES – Despite a three-run seventh inning to tie the game, the Indianapolis Indians fell for the second night in a row to the Iowa Cubs on Saturday at Principal Park, 6-5.
The Indians (22-25) were down by three runs through six innings in Des Moines before storming back against the Iowa bullpen trio of Brad Wieck, Zac Leigh and Riley Thompson (W, 2-0) in the seventh. The comeback effort was highlighted by RBI doubles from Canaan Smith-Njigba and Malcom Nuñez and an RBI single from Jake Lamb. However, Iowa responded a half-inning later against Indians reliever Geronimo Franzua (L, 1-4) with a single from David Bote to plate Alexander Canario to take the one-run lead that they wouldn’t relinquish. Indianapolis mustered just one baserunner in the final two innings against I-Cubs relievers Riley Martin and Carl Edwards Jr. (S, 5).
After the I-Cubs (23-27) opened scoring in the bottom of the first against Indians starter Domingo Germán, Matt Gorski put the Indians on the board with his eighth home run of the season and his seventh in his last 10 games. Iowa jumped out to a 5-1 lead with a run in both the second and third and a two-run fourth, but the Indians got one back in the fifth on a sacrifice fly from Lamb before their three-run seventh.
With Gorski’s homer, the Fishers native is now hitting an even .300 in 16 games in the month of May with 11 extra-base hits (six home runs) and 23 RBIs. In that stretch, Gorski has posted a 1.071 OPS. The loss dropped the Indians to 6-17 away from Victory Field this season, with 10 of those 17 road losses coming by a single run.
The Indians and Cubs conclude their six-game series on Sunday afternoon at 2:08 PM ET. Right-hander Quinn Priester (1-1, 4.58) gets the ball for the Indians for the second time this week against Iowa southpaw Thomas Pannone (3-4, 3.75), marking a rematch of the series opener on Tuesday night.
Originally posted on milb.com/indianapolis