Ransom homer keys IronPigs victory

ALLENTOWN -- Cody Ransom wasn't in Dave Huppert's original lineup for Thursday morning's Education Day special with Indianapolis. But when the IronPigs took the field the veteran was in what's become his home-away-from-home: right field.

Three innings later Ransom provided the afternoon's key blow, a three-run homer that produced a 3-1 victory over the Indians before 10,000 at Coca-Cola Park.

Rich Thompson and Luis Maza opened the third inning with singles off Daniel McCutchen, who then got John Mayberry Jr. on a sharp liner to third and Andy Tracy on a fly ball to left. Ransom, the only IronPig to play in each of the team's first 25 games, jumped on McCutchen's first pitch and lined his sixth homer into the bullpens in left to erase an early 1-0 Indianpolis lead.

A leadoff single by Jose Tabata and Pedro Alvarez's two-out RBI double gave the Indians a 1-0 lead in the first, but Pigs starter Drew Carpenter settled in to record his second straight strong outing. The right-hander, who threw five shutout innings in his previous start at Rochester, allowed just four baserunners over his final five innings and three of them were erased: one on a pickoff, another on a double play and a third caught stealing. Overall Carpenter (3-2) allowed three hits and a run in six innings with two walks and five strikeouts.

Two straight one-out walks by Oscar Villarreal put the tying runners on base for Indianapolis (13-13) in the top of the eighth. But after both runners moved up on Neil Walker's groundout to first, Antonio Bastardo came out of the bullpen to strike out Brian Myrow on four pitches to end the threat.

Scott Mathieson gave up a leadoff single to Alvarez, who was 7-for-15 in the series, in the ninth but retired the next three hitters for his fourth save, striking out Luke Carlin on a fastball that registered 99 MPH on the stadium's radar gun to close out the game..

McCutchen (1-1), who tied for the league lead last year with 13 wins, allowed seven hits and three runs in six innings.

Paul Hoover had a single, double and triple in his first three at-bats before drawing an eighth-inning walk. Left fielder Brandon Moss nearly made a web-gem catch on Hoover's sixth-inning triple, nearly snagging it with a leap at the wall, then almost gloving it once and grabbing it a second time with his bare hand as he juggled the ball several times before it fell to the ground.

FROM THE MORNING CALL