2 Dollar Tribe Report/2 Dollar Bill Josh Elmore

On a warm and pleasant Monday evening in the heart of downtown Indianapolis at beautiful Victory Field, the Indianapolis Indians and the Charlotte Knights faced off in game 1 of a 4 game series in what may very well turn out to be a preview of the first round of the International League playoffs.

The Indians entered the game with the best record in the International League at 71-45 and Charlotte entered the game with a record of 65-51. There was an announced crowd of 8,549 fans on hand to watch what turned out be both a classic and a mistake filled game.

Both teams would remain scoreless through seven innings of baseball. Teams had a combined 4 hits and two errors through 7 innings. Charlotte got the first hit of the game in the 1st inning on a single by right fielder Connor Jackson. Chris Leroux would retire the next 8 Knights batters before Indians center fielder Jose Tabata committed a 2 base error in the top of the 4th inning. Leroux again retired the next 8 Knights batters before being replaced by reliever Jose Diaz in the 8th inning.

The Indians would get singles from Matt Hague in the 4th Inning, left fielder Christian Marrero in the 5th inning, and short stop chase Darnaud in the 6th inning. They would advance runners to second and third in the 7th inning but that was the closest they would come to scoring all night.

Jose Diaz came on to replace Chris Leroux in the top of the 8th inning. He got the first batter, Knights third baseman Brent Morel, to ground out to second base. He then gave up a double to Knights center fielder Jared Mitchell. He would strike out Knights catcher Josh Phegly, but Phegly would reach first on a dropped strike and a very poor throwing error by Tribe catcher Tony Sanchez. The error also allowed Mitchell to score from second base giving the knights a 1-0 lead. It was the only run scored all night. Diaz then struck out Knights second baseman Drew Garcia. He then hit Knights shortstop Tyler Saladino. He gave up a single to Greg Golson. Saladino was caught attempting to steal third base.

Game 2 of the 4 game series is tonight/Tuesday at Victory Field at 7:05 pm.