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- The Indianapolis Indians won their AAA International League game over the Columbus Clippers 6-5 on Thursday night
- The game ended in spectacular fashion, with Jared Oliva winning it with a walk-off steal of home.
- Baseball fans are praising Oliva’s aggressiveness and heads-up base running.
- Read more MLB stories here!
Minor league baseball is wonderful for a lot of reasons.
It’s affordable. It’s almost everywhere in the country, and more often than not, it’s a fantastic product.
That was the case again on Thursday night the Indianapolis Indians’ 6-5 Triple-A International League victory over the Columbus Clippers.
The Indians had led throughout much of the game, but the Clippers scored runs in both the eighth and ninth innings to tie the game. Indianapolis answered, however, with Jared Oliva provided the winning run.
Oliva, who has spent his entire career in the Pittsburgh Pirates’ system, began the rally with a one-out double. He then moved to third on a groundout from Oneil Cruz.
Then things began to get wild.
After Clippers’ pitcher Ben Krauth threw a ball high to bring the count to Indianapolis’ Canaan Smith-Njiga (brother of Ohio State wideout Jaxon Smith-Njigba), Columbus catcher Bryan Lavastida looked Oliva back to third. However, he then threw a looping ball back to Krauth on the mound and Oliva darted for home.
The rest, as they say, is history.
We've been a baseball team for a long, long time.
This is one of the greatest walk-offs we've ever seen. 🤯 pic.twitter.com/MBLAVC1KBi
— Indianapolis Indians (@indyindians) June 10, 2022
Oliva flew home, beating the throw from Krauth and just eluding the tag of Lavastida to win the ball game in thrilling fashion.
Baseball fans were impressed with Oliva’s heads-up thinking.
Craziest walk off I’ve ever seen in person!! https://t.co/0268qhuMnp
— Rene Still (@jimrinny) June 10, 2022
Walk-off steal of home is pretty damn ballsy. https://t.co/tHQ2DgnHRp
— Brian Cox (@BCox5503) June 10, 2022
That’s just smart baseball https://t.co/ETXsjn0NDP
— Drew Snyder (@DrewJSnyder) June 10, 2022
Minor league baseball often lives outside the sports mainstream, but tonight saw a play of the night candidate and a rarity at any form of the national pastime: a walk-off steal of home. https://t.co/zDarKvcmU0
— DC Cueva (@dc408dxtr) June 10, 2022
Minor League baseball remains the best.