Félix Pie hits home run in Tribe 6-2 lose to Indians

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Haitian Left fielder Felix Pie launched a solo shot for the Tribe's first homer in its last 10 games, but it wasn't nearly enough as opposing starter Jeff Mandel allowed just one run through 7.0 innings to pilot the Syracuse Chiefs (61-71) to a 6-2 win over the Indianapolis Indians (73-58) on Monday night at NBT Bank Stadium. Despite the defeat, the Tribe's Magic Number to clinch the International League West Division still dropped to four courtesy of Columbus' loss to Norfolk.
Indianapolis' bats never quite got it going against opposing righty Mandel (W, 7.0 IP, 6 H, ER, 6 SO), who allowed just six hits through his 7.0 frames of one-run ball. The starter was in control from his opening pitch and mowed through the first 10 Tribe batters before ever allowing a baserunner. Even then, Mandel induced an inning-ending twin killing to face the minimum amount of batters through the first 13 outs, and just one batter over the minimum through the opening 5.1 innings.

Mandel's lone blemish in his first four nearly perfect frames came via a one-out single from SS Robert Andino. Though the base knock didn't cause any damage in the big scheme of the game, it gave Andino hits in 12 of his first 15 games with the Tribe, and 20 overall in that span.

Syracuse matched Andino's base knock with two far bigger one of their own in the home half of the fourth. CF Corey Brown marked the first of three straight Chiefs batters to reach base as he doubled to right in front of a walk from 1B Chris Marrero, before 2B Will Rhymes put the game out of a reach with a towering two-run blast that gave the home team a 3-0 lead.

Félix Pie goes 4-for-4, helps Tribe to 14-7 blowout over Bisons

NDIANAPOLIS -- The Indianapolis Indians (29-12) plated a season-high 14 runs on 14 hits as left fielder Felix Pie went 4-for-4 with two triples and two steals, right fielder Brett Carroll blasted two, two-run home runs and first baseman Matt Hague went 3-for-4 with three RBI in a 14-7 drubbing of the Buffalo Bisons (23-15) on Wednesday afternoon at Victory Field.
One day after plating 10 runs on a season-high 15 hits, the Indianapolis offense continued right where they left off with 14 runs on a season-high nine extra-base hits. Overall, six Indians' batters scored at least two runs, while five collected at least two RBI and four knocked multiple hits.

The Tribe quickly jumped on Buffalo starter Dave Bush as Pie roped a one-out single, stole second and came plateward when Hague ripped a base hit. 3B Jared Goedert then continued the first frame outburst with a run-scoring double, before Carroll cleared the bases with a mammoth home run to left to extend the Indians lead to to 4-0.

Buffalo took back a short lived lead with a single score in the third and five more in fifth. Former Indians INF and the IL's current top hitter, Jim Negrych, brought home two of the Bisons' runs with both an RBI single in the third and a run scoring groundout in the fifth. A Tribe wild pitch brought home another fifth-frame score, before 1B Luis Jimenez capped the rally with a two-run longball that pushed Buffalo ahead 6-4 in the top of the fifth.

Félix Pie grand slam powers Tribe past Mud Hens 8-5

INDIANAPOLIS -- Left fielder Felix Pie cleared the bases with the Tribe's first grand slam at Victory Field since August 6, 2011 in the bottom of the second inning to help power the Indianapolis Indians (26-11) past the Toledo Mud Hens (10-27) on Saturday night at Victory Field. With the win, the Indians are now off to their best home start in the Victory Field era (since 1996) at 16-3.
Pie not only blasted a grand slam on Saturday night, but also added a double and walk, while scoring two runs to continue his blazing start to the month of May. After hitting just .172 with no home runs and only one RBI over 18 games in the month of April, Pie has flipped the script by hitting .323 (11-for-34) with five runs, three home runs, 11 RBI and five steals in 10 games during the season's second month.

The former Chicago Cubs top prospect began the night by lining a double to right with two outs in the bottom of the first, before being brought plateward when 1B Matt Hague followed with a base hit to left. The base knock for Hague not only gave the Tribe an early 1-0 lead, but also extended the Tribe first baseman's on-base streak to 18 straight games.

Indianapolis kept the offensive outburst rolling into the second inning as RF Jerry Sands and C Lucas May each singled to put runners on the corners with one out. 2B Ivan DeJesus then plated the game's second score when he reached on a fielder's choice that allowed Sands to cross the plate to extend the Indians advantage to 2-0.