Error-plagued Indians fall

Five errors.

How much more information do you need?

The Spokane Indians let their mistakes get the best of them in a 6-4 Northwest League loss to the Yakima Bears Friday at Avista Stadium.

It put the Indians’ losing streak at two – tied for the longest of this 32-12 season.

“We had some other poor plays that didn’t count as errors that probably should have,” Spokane manager Tim Hulett said. “So it was a combination of the errors and some poor defense outside of that.”

Three errors were by Justin Pickett at third base, a position he’s played a handful of times this season but never at Avista Stadium.

His first error scored a run in the third inning. His second was a missed foul pop-up in the top of the fourth. In the fifth, he misfielded a routine grounder.

“I wish I didn’t give up some of the runs,” Pickett said. “It would have been a closer game.”

He partially redeemed himself in the bottom of the eighth, when he lined a shot over the right-field fence for a three-run homer.

But by then, it was too late. Those were the Indians’ first runs, and they closed the deficit to 6-3.

Eric Fry added a solo shot in the bottom of the ninth. But he did it with two outs.

Two outs – the bane of Spokane’s offense.

In the fourth inning, the Indians got the bases loaded with two down. Pickett grounded out to shortstop.

In the fifth, a two-out rally got two runners on base. Jared Bolden grounded out to third after an eight-pitch at-bat.

In the bottom of the sixth, Spokane would have loaded the bases if Joey Butler didn’t get caught rounding third base a little too far. With two on, Pickett struck out and Hogan flied out to retire the side.

Then in the next inning, with two Indians players in scoring position, Butler – who had gone 3 for 3 up to that point – grounded out to second. He finished 3 for 5.

Even with 13 hits, Spokane struggled to convert when it counted.

So what happened to the Indians, a team that left Spokane last week as the Northwest League’s top hitting team and returned Thursday in second place to Boise?

“The Bears pretty much, more than any other team that’s seen us, they know what to pitch us,” said Fry, who went 3 for 5 with two runs.

Yakima did its damage in bursts. In the top of the third, they took advantage of struggling Spokane starter Carlos Pimentel (2-2), who recorded the loss. A double, two singles and one of Pickett’s errors later, the Bears were up 3-0.

In the eighth, Roberto Rodriguez hit a two-run home run off of reliever Tim Murphy, and Brendan Duffy – who reached on one of first baseman Jared Bolden’s two errors – scored on Joe Ayers’ triple.

“They play us tough,” Hulett said of Yakima. “They’re just one of those teams that give us a tough time. Don’t know why.”

That doesn’t bode too well for the first-place Indians. Yakima is in the cellar of the East Division with a 16-28 record. The Boise Hawks (27-16) are fast approaching, now four games behind the Indians.

“Pretty much, we need these losses,” Fry said. “We’re so used to winning.”

Spokane already lost the three-game series against the Bears, but the final game is tonight at 6:30 at Avista Stadium.