Indians KO Emeralds, umpires
The baseball was all over the place Monday at Avista Stadium. There were four fielding errors. Two batters got hit. One run scored on a wild pitch.
And both umpires are sure to be nursing bruises this morning.
“It just seemed like there were strange things happening,” Spokane Indians manager Tim Hulett said after his team beat the Eugene Emeralds 6-3 in a Northwest League game.
Most of the oddity happened in the second inning, when the Indians (16-5) did the bulk of their scoring.
Eugene (7-14) starter Simon Castro beaned designated hitter Justin Pickett, then handed Matt West a free ride to first. Eric Fry followed with a stand-up double to center field, scoring Pickett and sending West to third.
Ed Koncel hit a sacrifice fly to center, allowing West to score. Then, Jason Ogata brought in Fry with a single to right field.
But that was the second time Fry crossed the plate that inning.
Before Ogata’s RBI, David Paisano registered a hit that brought Fry home. But the line drive darted straight into bases umpire Taro Hamano’s leg and the official fell the to the sod, rolling in pain.
Fry strolled home from third base, but once Hamano shook it off, he and home-plate umpire Brett Terry ended up calling Fry back.
“I’ve seen that a lot, actually. When the umpire’s inside the bases and the ball hits him, it’s a dead ball. Nobody advances,” Hulett said. “I was hoping they wouldn’t know that.”
The umps did.
“I thought it was an RBI,” Paisano said through an interpreter, “but it helped the team for that moment.”
It helped because, on the very next pitch, Ogata’s rocket to right ended up bringing in Fry.
Yet it wasn’t over for the umpires. On his way to a base-on-balls, Joey Butler fouled a pitch into Terry’s facemask, stunning him for a few moments.
“Both umpires got hit hard. I don’t know what happens if we lose both umpires,” Hulett joked. “What do we do? Catchers call pitches or something? I don’t know.”
If the catchers called the pitches, however, it might have improved the pitching game.
Each team went through five pitchers. And Spokane’s starter, Neil Ramirez, lasted the longest of any of them. He allowed one run in four innings.
His first reliever, Justin Gutsie, registered the win in his first pro outing. He pitched one inning, a hitless top of the fifth.
Clifford Springston allowed two runs, including a Ryan Hill solo home run for the Emeralds. Collectively, the Indians’ pitchers gave up only five hits but walked five batters.
“Our pitchers really struggled tonight really commanding the zone,” Hulett said. “They made pitches when they had to, they limited the damage to one run when (Eugene) did score. But it wasn’t as crisp and clean as it was (Sunday) night from the pitching side.”
With the win, the Indians completed a five-game sweep of the Emeralds at home. The Indians have a commanding lead in the Northwest League and the Emeralds are in the basement, but Hulett thought Eugene deserved some credit.
“We’re glad we’re done with these guys,” he said. “They’re going to put a hurt on somebody.”
Notes
Mike Hollander, who joined the Indians roster two weeks ago as starting shortstop, was put on the disabled list after he tripped and broke his thumb while running to first base June 27. Kyle Higgins replaced him on the roster, splitting time on the field with Ed Koncel. … Cooper Brannan, a Eugene reliever, had three left fingers blown off by a grenade when he was stationed in Iraq as a Marine. Good thing he’s a righty. Brannan’s thumb and ring finger were sewn back on, he told CNN last year. He lost his pinky. On Sunday, he pitched a three-up, three-down inning against Spokane and dropped his ERA to 9.00. … Coming into the series against the Indians, Emeralds lead-off batter Daniel Robertson led the Northwest League in hits. Since arriving in Spokane, the center fielder has gone just 2 for 21.