Indianapolis right-hander and Pittsburgh Pirates top prospect Jameson Taillon (3-2) was excellent on the mound on Thursday afternoon at Victory Field, leading the Indians (20-19) to a 4-2 victory over Columbus (24-16) in front of an audience of 12,002.
Taillon threw six innings, giving up five hits and striking out eight batters.
The Indians struck first in the bottom of the third with the bases loaded and one out, as a Pedro Florimon RBI sacrifice fly to center field followed by a Josh Bell base hit to left scoring the other two runners made it a 3-0 game.
Jacob Stallings mashed his first home run of the season the next inning to make it 4-0.
Columbus would get on the scoreboard in the seventh inning, however, as Bobby Ison’s RBI single with runners at the corners cut the Indians lead to three and Tyler Naquin’s RBI double in the ninth knocked the lead down to two, but the Clippers would not be able to close the gap.
Clippers starter in southpaw Ryan Merritt (3-4) tossed seven innings, giving up four earned runs while walking one and fanning four.
Rob Scahill picked up the save for the Indians, his third of the campaign.
Columbus moves on to begin a three game series in Louisville tomorrow night against the Bats. First pitch from Slugger Field is set for 7:05 p.m. Righty Will Roberts (3-1, 3.07 ERA) will handle the start for the Clippers while fellow righty Jon Moscot (0-1, 5.91 ERA) will go for Louisville in a battle of the top two teams in the International League West Division.
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