Indians Endure Scare In Ninth To Win 6-5 Wilson Gets Win Despite Roommate’s Struggle In Relief

Freshly showered Kris Wilson returned to the dugout Tuesday to watch roommate Justin Lamber finish off the Portland Rockies in the ninth inning.

Wilson, the Spokane Indians starter who pitched five shutout innings, nearly watched his first win since July 1 slip away.

Lamber was torched for five runs in the ninth, but reliever Rich Boring recorded the final out during Spokane’s 6-5 Northwest League win over the Rockies.

“I told (Lamber) the sun will come up tomorrow,” Wilson (2-3) said from an Indians clubhouse loaded with shaking heads and sheepish grins. “He’ll go back out there and get them next time.”

Spokane (31-24) closed within six games of Boise (37-18) in the North Division. Boise lost to Southern Oregon, which trails Portland (31-23) by two games for the South lead.

Portland leads the season series with Spokane 5-4.

The five-game set ends tonight at Seafirst Stadium with Spokane’s Jordy Alexander (5-3, 4.28 ERA) starting against Justin Miller (2-0, 2.62). Alexander leads the league with 69-1/3 innings pitched.

Wilson, who hadn’t had a quality start in a month, allowed three hits and struck out eight.

“The big difference tonight is that Jerry Cram, the (Kansas City Royals) roving pitching instructor, and (Indians pitching coach) ‘Shag’ Crawford helped me work on my mechanics after my last start,” Wilson said.

Wilson’s control, always his strong suit, has been solid all year, but he had allowed 76 hits in 50-2/3 innings through 10 starts.

Given the 120 innings he pitched for Georgia Tech during the spring, Wilson had developed a tired arm.

“Tonight I felt like my old self,” he said. “I had better control, and I wasn’t trying to do too much with my pitches.”

The win came with Wilson’s mother, Sharon, visiting from her home in Florida. Sharon Wilson had never seen her son pitch professionally.

Wilson was recruited by Georgia Tech as a quarterback, but he gave up football two years ago when the school switched from a drop-back to a roll-out style for its QBs.

Mike Brambilla provided Spokane’s main offense, hitting his fourth homer, a two-run shot in the second, and adding a two-run double in the eighth. Spokane’s Dave Willis went 3 for 4, also with his fourth homer, a solo blast in the fourth. Both homers went solidly to left-center.

Portland sent eight runners to the plate against Lamber, who actually recorded the third out with the score still 6-0. His strikeout of Michael Johns, however, bounced in the dirt and rolled to the backstop, allowing Johns to reach first. What followed was two singles, one walk and Kent Zweifel’s two-run double to left-center.

Boring, earning his fifth save, forced Jason Franklin to pop up to first base with Zweifel still on second.

Notes

The Indians are 17-21 since July 4… . Spokane shortstop Rich Petru missed the game with a shoulder injury… . Tribe right fielder Juan LeBron’s 22 doubles lead the league… . Spokane is ahead of last year’s attendance record, when the Indians averaged 4,761. Spokane is averaging 4,931 through 26 home dates.

, DataTimes