Indians Remain Unbeaten Brown Continues With Hot Bat While Dillon Finds Stroke In 7-5 Win

While Dermal Brown continued to show his stuff Friday, Joe Dillon provided first notice of his capabilities.

Brown and Dillon crushed massive home runs in the fourth inning of Spokane’s 7-5 win over Salem-Keizer before 4,937 at Seafirst Stadium.

Brown, 8 for 17 (.471) for the year, homered in his third consecutive game.

Dillon was 0 for 8 before homering off starter Jeff Andra (0-1) to lead off the fourth.

“I was trying not to think about it, but every at-bat, 0 for 6 and 0 for 7, you get deeper into it,” said Dillon, who hit a shot to left field estimated at 430 feet.

Mike Brambilla walked after Dillon’s blast, bringing up Brown. Andra tried a 3-2 fastball that Brown pasted close to 100 feet in the air, near a bank of lights in right, and deposited on the roof of a white van.

The win pushed the Indians to 4-0 in the Northwest League and kept the Volcanoes searching for their first win. S-K moved this year from Bellingham.

“The thing of it is, it’s still just four out of (76 games),” said manager Jeff Garber, concerned about Spokane’s six errors. “We still have a lot of mistakes in the field we have to overcome.

“They still have to realize we could easily be 2-2.”

Yet, if the Indians can keep from having Brown (eight RBIs) promoted, and continues with solid hitting and starting pitching, it could mean Spokane’s first pennant race since 1990.

Indians starter Jason Gooding scattered three hits and struck out three in four scoreless innings. The Texas Tech product left after nearing his 65-pitch limit.

Dillon, another Red Raider alum, conceded that having Gooding on the mound added to his optimism.

“Every time he pitched this year I hit really well,” said Dillon, whose draft position - seventh round - was two after Gooding’s. “Maybe it carried over.”

Dillon also had an RBI single in the seventh despite being fooled by Milton De Abreu’s pitch. After a series of breaking balls, Dillon looked for a fastball and had just enough reaction time to poke a changeup into left field.

Dillon is serving as designated hitter while healing a shoulder injury that occurred before spring ball. His absence at third base is obvious, with Dave Willis and Rico Montas playing out of place to fill in.

Montas had a throwing error, the first of four for Spokane in the seventh, that opened the door to three runs. The Indians’ 6-1 lead shrunk to 6-4, but Dillon’s excuse-me single put the cushion up to three heading into the eighth.

“I was glad for Joe,” Garber said. “He’s been pressing a bit. I told him he had to work on seeing the ball and staying back (in his stance).”

Spokane’s Jeremy Hill added a two-run double in the sixth. Chris Ankrum of the Volcanoes drove in three with a pair of singles.

The series ends at 7:05 tonight with a pair of righties starting, Spokane’s Kris Wilson and Salem-Keizer’s Jason Verdugo (0-1). Wilson was selected in the ninth round of this year’s amateur draft, out of Georgia Tech.

Spokane’s first road series - five games with Portland - begins Sunday. The game is scheduled to be telecast on Fox Northwest.

Notes

Spokane reliever Donald Quigley, who has thrown just four innings, leads the league with two wins… . Spokane, which entered the night with a league-best .305 batting average, boosted it to .331. Salem-Keizer is second, at .277.

Indians 7, Volcanoes 5 Salem-Keizer Spokane

ab r h bi ab r h bi

Byas cf 5 1 3 0 Metzler cf 5 1 2 0

Young 2b 5 2 2 0 Caruso 2b 5 0 1 0

Ankrum 1b 5 1 2 3 Dillon dh 3 1 2 2

Casper rf 5 0 0 0 Brambilla 1b 2 1 0 0

Priess c 2 0 0 1 DBrown lf 3 2 2 2

Mosier 3b 5 0 2 1 Willis 3b 3 1 2 0

Kenna dh 5 0 1 0 Montas 3b 1 0 0 0

Greene lf 4 0 1 0 LeBron rf 4 1 2 1

Mendoza ss 4 1 1 0 Hill c 4 0 1 2

Ligons ss 3 0 2 0

Totals 40 5 12 5 Totals 33 7 14 7

Salem-Keizer 000 010 301 5

Spokane 010 302 10x 7

ECasper (2), Caruso 2 (2), Brambilla 2 (3), Montas (1). DP Salem-Keizer 3, Spokane 1. LOBSalem-Keizer 11, Spokane 7. 2BCaruso (2), Willis (2), Hill (1). HRDillon (1), DBrown (3). SBLigons (2). SBrambilla. SFPriess. Salem-Keizer IP H R ER BB SO

Andra L,0-1 4 6 4 4 1 4

Nathan 2 4 2 2 1 2

De Abreu 1-1/3 4 1 1 2 1

Rice 2/3 0 0 0 0 0 Spokane IP H R ER BB SO

Gooding 4 3 0 0 1 3

Roeder W,1-0 2 5 1 1 0 0

Key 2/3 3 3 0 0 0

Carter 1-1/3 0 0 0 0 0

Boring S,1 1 1 1 0 1 0

T-2:49. A-4,937 (7,101).

, DataTimes