Indians

Final Score Game 5: Indians 10, White Sox 11

Saturday, April 29, 2006, 11:00 a.m., Minor Field

The Alameda AAA Indians made a strong comeback but ultimately lost to the White Sox.

Isaac Maximov took the mound for the Indians in the first inning. Fong, batting for the White Sox, led off with a line drive single to center. A. Liu followed with a single, advancing Fong to second. With Achramowicz at the plate Fong stole third, and then home on a missed pick off throw. A. Liu took advantage to steal third. Achramowicz singled to score Liu as the White Sox got on the scoreboard early. Djafaripour singled and advanced Achramowicz to third. A mishandled pitch allowed Djafaripour to steal second, and N. Liu singled to score Achramowicz and give the White Sox runners on first and third. With Lozada at the plate Liu stole second, then advanced to third, scoring when Lozada flied out. The next batter, Ngim, hit to center, scoring Lozada, but was tagged out in a rundown between second and third trying to stretch his hit to a triple. Quon followed with a single, and then stole bases on successive pitches before being stranded when Varghese struck out to put the White Sox in the field with five runs scored.

The Indians were unable to score in their first at bat. Nick Stevens led off, but struck out. Jackson Tracy came to the plate and stretched a single to a double when a White Sox throw to first was not caught, but was tagged out stealing third base with Micah Rothenbuhler at bat. Rothenbuhler struck out and the side was retired.

The Indians defense came back strong in the second inning taking the White Sox three up and three down. Mathews led off for the White Sox with a fly ball to second but Tracy made the catch for one away. Maximov struck Parsons struck out and Fong followed his at bat with a fly ball caught by Derek Snediker at short.

Achramowicz continued pitching for the White Sox as the Indians attempted to put some runs on the board in the bottom of the second. Michael Copple grounded to short, but a missed throw to first allowed him a two bagger. Trevor Greenley gained a base on balls and Copple stole third to give the Indians runners on first and third. Maximov walked to load the bases, but the Indians were held scoreless when Snediker, Evan Park and Wyatt Arens struck out in succession. 

The Indians took the field still trailing by five in the third inning. Rothenbuhler relieved Maximov as pitcher and A. Liu came to the plate for the White Sox. Liu doubled on a missed throw to first, and scored when Achramowicz hit a hard ground ball past third base into the outfield for a triple. Djafaripour’s long fly to center right was good for a double and Achramowicz scored to extend the White Sox lead to seven. N. Liu walked to first base when he was hit by a pitch and the White Sox had runners on first and second. Lozada singled on a grounder to third and that was handled by the Indians third baseman for a force out on Djafaripour. Ngim tripled, scoring Liu and Lozada, and it was looking like the White Sox were going to run away with the game. Quon followed with a grounder to short and was thrown out at first, scoring Ngim from third. Varghese flied to center, but the ball was dropped, allowing a single. Varghese stole second but was held there when Mathews grounded towards third and beat Rothenbuhler’s throw for a single. Both runners advanced on a wild pitch to Parsons but were stranded when Parsons struck out to end the top of the inning with the White Sox holding a ten run advantage.

The Indians would score their first runs in the bottom of the third. Billy Hommert led off for the Indians against Achramowicz on the mound for the White Sox, hitting a ground ball to third and getting on base for a single when the White Sox did not connect in time with the throw. Hommert stole second before Casey Thiering took a base on balls giving the Indians runners on first and second. Both runners advanced on a wild pitch to Liam Bergstrom, and he too walked and the bases were loaded. Stevens flied out for one away, and Tracy's foul pop-up was caught for a second out. Rothenbuhler singled, scoring Hommert and Thiering and advancing Bergstrom to third. With Copple batting Rothenbuhler stole second, and the bases were again loaded when Copple walked. The Indians were held to two runs with Greenley at the plate when Bergstrom was tagged out attempting to steal home, the score White Sox ten, Indians two and three innings played.

The fourth inning saw the White Sox batting from the top of the order with Rothenbuhler on the mound for the Indians. Fong struck out and A. Liu hit a grounder to Tracy at second who made the throw for the force out at first. A grounder by Achramowicz hit the gap and got by second and into the outfield, but only good for a single. With Djafaripour at the plate Achramowicz stole second and the third when the pick off throw went astray. Djafaripour singled with a bouncing grounder to second and scored Achramowicz. N. Liu wound up batting last for the White Sox when his ground ball back to Rothenbuhler was delivered to first for the third out and the score was eleven to two midway through the fourth.

The Indians gained a little more ground in the bottom of the inning. Fong came in to pitch for the White Sox and struck out Greenley for one away. Maximov walked and the Indians had a base runner, and he scored when Snediker doubled to center. Park followed with a hit to second but was thrown out at first for the second out. Arens brought in Snediker with a fly to shallow center field that was good for a double, but he was stranded and the inning ended when Hommert's fly to second was dropped but the throw to first quick enough to force him out. The score after four was White Sox eleven, Indians four.

Copple took up the pitching duties for the Indians in the fifth inning. Lozada led off for the White Sox hitting a grounder to first that was fielded for the first out. Ngim batted next and struck out. Quon was called out on strikes and a combination of tight pitching and good fielding was effective in holding the White Sox scoreless in the fifth.

The Indians had a scoring breakout in the bottom of the fifth. Thiering walked when he was hit by a pitch, giving the Indians a baserunner. Bergstrom followed and was called out on strikes for one away, and then Stevens took a base when he was hit by a pitch. Tracy walked and the bases were loaded with one away. Thiering scored on a fly ball to center by Rothenbuhler that was caught for the second out, advancing the runners. Fong then walked Copple and the bases were loaded a second time. Greenley flied to center but a dropped ball allowed a single, scoring Stevens and Tracy and advancing Copple to second. Maximov followed with another fly to center for a single, scoring Copple and advancing Greenley to third. Maximov stole second base to give the Indians runners on second and third with the tying run at the plate. Snediker's line drive triple down the first base line got by the first baseman and brought in Greenley and Maximov and put the tying run in scoring position. The White Sox saved their lead when Park struck out and the Indians were now down by a single run with an inning to play.

Copple returned to the mound for the Indians and the White Sox were again retired three up, three down. Varghese struck out, and Mathews' grounder back to Copple was quickly thrown to first for the force play. Parsons struck out and the Indians had the home team bats last advantage to try and make their comeback good and steal the game away.

The White Sox brought in a fresh arm in Ngim and Arens lead off for the Indians. A fly to shallow left was good for a single, and with Arens on first the tying run was on base. Hommert found the gap with a ground ball single past second, advancing Arens and putting the winning run on base. Thiering's fly ball to short proved costly, however, as the White Sox turned it into a double play when Arens was caught out of position and couldn't get back to second. Bergstrom came to the plate with the tying run still on base, but couldn't beat the throw to first on a grounder back towards the pitcher and the Indians were held scoreless in the sixth on a great effort but a painful loss.

This was an exciting game to watch and the Indians showed winning character in coming back from a ten to nothing deficit to lose by a single run, eleven to ten. The Indians also proved that they could play the currently undefeated White Sox head to head and give them all they could handle.

Game recap written by J. Michael Bergstrom.  All rights reserved.