Hilo Wears Out Indians As Bears Triumph Again
The Spokane Indians found a way to stop Johnny Hilo on Saturday.
Unfortunately for the Indians, their method of slowing down Hilo was by intentionally walking him in the ninth inning.
Otherwise, Hilo continued his season-long feast on Spokane. The left-handed-hitting outfielder went 4 for 4 and drove in three runs as the Yakima Bears earned a 5-3 Northwest League baseball decision at Seafirst Stadium.
Yakima (20-29) broke a third-place tie with Spokane (19-30) in the Northern Division.
Hilo had RBI singles off Spokane starter Modesto Villarreal (4-2) in the first, third and fifth innings. He doubled to set up a run in the seventh, then, one hit shy of a career high, was issued a free pass in the ninth.
In six games against Spokane, five of which were Yakima wins, Hilo is 11 of 23 (.478) with seven RBIs. He has 18 RBIs on the season.
The reason for his mastery of Spokane remains a mystery.
“I don’t know, really,” Hilo said. “The guys in front of me were getting on base. It helps when the guys are moving around, especially (Ken) Morimoto at first base.”
Morimoto reached base four of five times, scored three runs and had two stolen bases.
Spokane manager Al Pedrique didn’t consider Hilo’s performance a big who-dunnit.
“We kept making bad pitches against him,” Pedrique said. “We left pitches over the plate, and he took advantage of it.”
Villarreal was the main culprit, allowing seven hits and four earned runs in 4-2/3 innings. The tall right-hander, Spokane’s leader in games won, fell behind too many hitters.
Yakima starter Carl South (3-3) pitched well enough to win a game that saw 19 hits and 30 baserunners. South allowed eight hits and three earned runs in six innings before receiving relief help from Ricky Stone.
Brett Schafer, the first Spokane batter against Stone, had an infield single. Stone then retired nine straight for his second save.
“It was the same old story,” Pedrique said. “We had chances early in the game, with guys on base and the right guys at the plate.”
Spokane gave the crowd of 4,777 a thrill during its two-run first, as third baseman Mark Quinn came within a few feet of a grand slam to left-center. A promotion during the game offered $100,000 to a fan if the Indians hit a bases-loader homer.
Quinn’s one-out, high shot glanced the wall, allowing Emiliano Escandon and Tony Miranda to score. James Vida held up at third.
That’s where the cheering ended. Quinn was doubled up on William Roland’s grounder to second, quelling a big inning.
Spokane cut into the Bears’ 4-2 lead in the fifth when Tyrone Frazier bunted for a single, stole his second base of the game, and later came around on Escandon’s grounder to second.
Vida, the league’s leading hitter, went 2 for 4 to increase his average to .366.
Spokane opens a three-game home series at 6:05 tonight against the Everett AquaSox and Ferris High grad Matt Sachse. Spokane plans to start Allen Sanders (1-4, 5.34). Chad Soden (4-3), 2-0 against Spokane, is the tentative Everett starter.
, DataTimes