Dallas Connection Sparks Spokane To 8-2 Victory Mullen Goes Seven Innings As Indians Win 10th In Last 16
Consider Scott Mullen part of the Dallas Baptist University “West” team that’s helped stabilize the Spokane Indians after a sluggish start.
Mullen, fellow pitcher Aaron Lineweaver and infielder Scott Harp all played for NAIA Dallas Baptist last spring. Ranked No. 1 all year, DBU (62-10) lost the regional championship game and a shot at the NAIA World Series.
The three players have reunited in Spokane, where Mullen played the big role Saturday in an 8-2 Northwest League win over the Yakima Bears. Spokane, 17-22, has won 10 of its last 16.
Mullen turned in the longest outing by a Spokane starter this season, limiting Yakima to four singles at Seafirst Stadium, where the gameopening temperature of 94 degrees barely subsided.
Mullen (2-2), who made a clubhigh eighth start, lasted seven innings. He had a pitch count of 85 and needed just 86 to retire 21 Bears.
Mullen struggled early in the season, but he’s been sharp most of July. He hasn’t allowed more than two earned runs in a start since July 2.
“(Pitching coach) Buster Keeton pretty much figured out what I was doing wrong mechanically (earlier in the year),” said Mullen, a 6-foot-2 left-hander. “He called it ‘reconstructive surgery.”’
Part of the problem might have been a month-long layoff. Mullen and his DBU teammates expected a longer season, but had to turn their attention to the amateur draft instead.
The Kansas City Royals selected Mullen in the seventh round, Lineweaver in the 20th and Harp in the 24th. Lineweaver had two perfect relief appearances during the justcompleted five consecutive games with Yakima. Harp, 0 for 4 Saturday, was 7 of 16 in four previous games against the Bears.
“In college, I was starting every seven days. Now it’s every five, so there has been that adjustment,” Mullen said.
A July 12 start at Boise may have turned around Mullen’s year. Although he allowed just two runs in four innings, he felt he needed to challenge hitters more. The result has been a 2.50 earned-run average in his three starts since.
Spokane staked Mullen to a 7-0 lead after two innings. Yakima starter Jay O’Shaughnessy (0-2) never found the mark, walking five and allowing all seven runs in 1-1/3 innings.
Roman Escamilla had a two-run single in the first and Kit Pellow drove in RBIs 36 and 37 with a second-inning triple high off the leftfield fence. Kris Didion also tripled - in the third - but became one of three Indians base-runners stranded at third.
Spokane played errorless ball and turned three double plays for Mullen.
Spokane’s first encounter with Southern Oregon is at 6:05 tonight. Enrique Calero (1-2) is scheduled to start the opener of the four-game series for Spokane.
Notes
The Indians rested outfielder Brandon Berger for the first time in 24 games. Berger’s impressive stats: tied for third in the league in hits and runs batted in, tied for fourth in homers and fifth in batting average.
Following Saturday’s gate of 6,333, Spokane’s average attendance of 5,114 factors out to a record-setting 194,332. Before the season, the Indians set an attendance goal of 170,000.
Spokane stood second in the league in homers (42) and stolen bases (51) after Friday’s games.
The Indians stole two more bases, meaning they could have jumped ahead if Boise (52) went without a steal.
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