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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Somehow, some way, Indians make playoffs

J.D. Larson Staff Writer

BOISE – It seemed that, in a season where so many things outside their control went wrong, the Spokane Indians were asking for too much Wednesday night.

First and foremost, they needed to rally from a 2-0 sixth-inning deficit after looking profoundly foolish against Boise starter Donnie Veal.

Then, they needed last-place Yakima to upset Tri-City to secure a playoff berth.

Which is a lot like placing your last five dollars on a three-legged horse.

Spokane (37-39) took care of its end of the deal with the devil, rallying for two runs in the sixth and five in the seventh en route to an 8-2 win in front of 2,985 at Memorial Stadium.

As the Indians boarded the bus, all they knew was that Yakima led Tri-City 4-0 in the fifth inning in Pasco. They would find out later the Bears hung on to win 5-2, meaning Spokane hosts West Division champion Vancouver in Game 1 of a best-of-5 series at 6:30 tonight at Avista Stadium.

The Canadians (46-30) lead the league with an earned run average around 3.00, and it’s a postseason meeting Spokane’s been looking forward to since a fastball nearly landed in Freddy Thon’s ear in a late August game, sparking a clearing of the benches. The teams split their 10-game season series.

As for Yakima, that would be the first favor the Bears had granted Spokane all year.

In eight of 12 meetings against the Indians, Yakima was the better team. In two-thirds of all other games, they were not.

The faith in the Bears was abundant in Spokane’s dugout.

“They’ve got their cell phones going. Freddy came down and told Abby (pitching coach Glenn Abbott) it was 3-0 in the third,” Indians manager Greg Riddoch said. “I went ‘3-0 Tri-Cities?’ and he said, ‘No, Yakima.’ You know Yakima, they can give up eight runs in a second.”

Thon had said a night before that he believed in the Bears, and maybe it’s the power of wishful thinking that got them here – because at times, there appeared to be little else.

“We don’t give up,” shortstop German Duran said. “We’ve had so many come-from-behind wins and we had that nine-game losing streak and even though we lost every game, we were playing hard.”

Spokane blew open the game in the top of the seventh, breaking a 2-all tie against Boise reliever Andy Santana (4-1). Joe Kemp led off with a double, advanced to third on a groundout and scored on Terry Blunt’s grounded single through a drawn-in infield.

Duran followed with a grounder inside the third-base bag for an RBI double, then Taylor Teagarden reached on an error to put runners on the corners with one out.

A fielder’s choice by Thon forced Teagarden but scored Duran for a 5-2 Indians lead. The next batter, John Mayberry Jr., lined a ball hard and high down the left-field line, and home-plate umpire Steve Barga ruled that the ball hit the foul pole for Mayberry Jr.’s 11th homer of the year, his fourth in six games and a five-run Spokane advantage. Boise manager Trey Forkerway disagreed, and was tossed by Barga.

Kellan McConnell scattered seven hits in 5 2/3 innings, allowing two runs and striking out six. Warren Rosebrock (4-1) picked up the win, coming on in the sixth with two on and two out and a tie game, and getting Elvin Puello to fly out to left to end the inning.

Veal was the second consecutive 2005 early-round draft pick to shut down the Indians. The second-round (68th overall) selection out of Pima (Ariz.) CC was lights out, allowing one hit, no runs and walking two to go along with 10 strikeouts.