Clippers Beat Indianapolis in Rain-Shortened Game

With the Cleveland Guardians game postponed due to rain, I decided to catch some Columbus Clippers baseball instead, hoping to get a full game in. Of course, the rain had other ideas, as the Clippers’ game was called in the seventh inning, though they still managed a 7-5 win over Indianapolis.

It didn’t come easy. Indianapolis opened the scoring in the first inning with three quick runs. Esmerlyn Valdez with an RBI double, Jhostynxon Garcia added a run with a groundout, and Alika Williams hit an RBI single to make it 3-0.

The Clippers answered immediately. In the bottom half of the first, Columbus chipped away with three straight RBI singles. Nolan Jones got them on the board, Stuart Fairchild followed with a line drive scoring hit, and Cooper Ingle tied the game at 3-3 with a base hit of his own. Just like that, the early deficit was gone.

Indianapolis retook the lead in the fourth on a solo home run from Billy Cook, but that only woke Columbus up again. In the bottom of the fourth, Ingle led things off by hitting his first home run of the season to even the score at 4-4. Then Petey Halpin delivered an RBI single to give Columbus the lead, George Valera followed with another, and even a double play off the bat of Travis Bazzana brought home a run to cap a four-run inning, pushing the Clippers lead to 7-4.

That turned out to be enough, as right-hander Tommy Mace came out of the bullpen and gave Columbus 2.2 innings while allowing just one run and striking out three to earn the win. Indianapolis did add a solo home run from Davis Wendzel in the seventh, but the rain arrived shortly after, and it worked in Columbus’ favor, ending the game early and sealing the victory.

With the win, the Clippers improved to 6-2 on the young season, while Indianapolis fell to 1-7. These two teams will close out the series on Sunday afternoon.