Scrambling Indians Edge Yakima In 11

The Spokane Indians fought and scrapped Saturday like a team trying to stay in a pennant race.

Well, in a warped way, the Indians were in that situation. By pushing across a run in the bottom of the 11th inning to beat Yakima 2-1, Spokane staved off inevitable elimination from the Northwest League Northern Division race.

Spokane (27-36) trails Yakima (40-23) by 13 games with 13 to go.

The Indians escaped a bases-loaded, no-out situation in the ninth and a bases-loaded scenario in the 11th.

In the bottom of the 11th, Spokane manufactured a run with Gary Matthews Jr.’s bloop single to right, infield bunt singles by Jason Tyrus and Erik Martinez, and a no-out RBI walk to Jay Johnson on a 3-2 pitch from Yakima’s fourth pitcher, Daniel Ricabal.

If the Indians are ready to pull out the white flag, they certainly didn’t show it.

“You always want to win against the top team,” said Matthews, who scored both runs. “We’ve set out this year to win every game.”

Of all the 49 Yakima batters who came to the plate, only the first would score. Chris Latham walked after 13 pitches from starter Devohn Duncan, moved to third on an error when Duncan tried a pickoff at first, then scored on Eric Stuckenschneider’s single to center.

The Bears’ other hits were an infield single by Chip Sell in the sixth and a one-out double by Paul Konerko in the eighth.

Duncan struck out 10 in six innings. He was off the hook when he left because Matthews led off the third with a triple, his first of the year, and scored on Tyrus’ sacrifice fly to left.

Spokane reliever Bubba Dixon walked the first three batters in the ninth. With the Indians’ infield playing in, second baseman Martinez recorded a force out at home on Charlie Nelson’s grounder. Stuckenschneider then grounded to third baseman Antonio Fernandez, who stepped on third and threw across for a double play.

Spokane loaded the bases with two outs in the ninth, but Bob Scafa, the third Bears pitcher, entered and coaxed a Fernandez groundout.

Winning pitcher Derek Mix (3-5) walked the bases loaded in the 11th with two outs, but Konerko grounded to short.

The Indians have a day off today and begin a threegame home series Monday against Bellingham.

Dennis promoted: Spokane pitcher Shane Dennis (1-7, 4.07 ERA) was promoted to Class A Springfield of the Midwest League. Dennis left with a league-leading 80 strikeouts and 77 innings pitched.