INDIANAPOLIS - Jerad Head arrived in professional baseball in 2005 without any of the pomp, circumstance or cash that accompanies a pricey first-round draft choice.
Two months after the draft that season, the Cleveland Indians signed Head as a free agent, showed him the lowest rung on the organizational ladder and dared him to climb.
Six years later, Head still is climbing. He finally made his 2011 debut in the third game of the season for the Clippers last night in Victory Field.
The most valuable player in the 2010 triple-A national championship game for the Clippers last September, Head hit a solo home run in the third inning and scored the final run of a wild 10-inning, 8-7 victory over the Indianapolis Indians.
"The one thing with Jerad is he knows that he has to fight for everything in this game," Clippers manager Mike Sarbaugh said. "That's why he's been playing the way he has the past three or four years.
"He has to continue to do that. He might not play for three or four days, and it takes a special guy to be able to do that. Like I told him, things will play out. We have a long season. He'll get his chances. He took advantage of one tonight."
Despite the gaudy numbers he put up in the postseason, Head knew he had to fight to make the Clippers this season. He didn't mind.
"I felt good," Head said. "I played some winter ball to get some more at-bats and tried to capitalize on how I finished last year."
He broke up an early pitching duel between Clippers starter Alex White and Justin Wilson in his first at-bat of the season. Head turned around a fastball from Wilson and launched it over the wall in right-center.
"I faced him last year (in double-A)," Head said. "I kind of remembered what he throws. I waited for my pitch and I drove it."
White nursed a 2-0 lead through four innings but gave up a pair of runs in the fifth. The Indians took a 6-2 lead in the seventh against relievers Paolo Espino and Jess Todd.
The Clippers answered with three runs in the eighth, including a two-run triple by Jason Kipnis, to cut the deficit to 6-5. They regained the lead on a sacrifice fly from Kipnis and an infield single by Jordan Brown.
The Indians didn't go quietly. Alex Presley sent the game into extra innings with a two-out solo home run in the ninth off Josh Judy. Head doubled in the 10th, went to third on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a Lonnie Chisenhall fielder's choice.
"This team can hit," Head said. "We're going to score runs and keep ourselves in the game."
Judy (1-0) pitched a scoreless 10th to earn the win.
jmassie@dispatch.com