Indians Gain Singular Victory Spokane Stops Bellingham From Clinching Division Title

There’s a single reason Bellingham didn’t clinch a division title on Wednesday:

Singles.

Fifteen of them, to be precise. Throw in James Vida’s two-run double and the Spokane Indians pounded out 16 hits in toppling Bellingham 8-4 at windy Seafirst Stadium.

Spokane and Bellingham have split eight games this year. Neither team has beaten the other on the road.

The Giants (39-27) have lost nine of 11 games and further delayed clinching their third Northwest League Northern Division title in four years. Bellingham leads Spokane (30-36) by nine games with 10 games remaining.

“I have some pride,” said Indians manager Al Pedrique. “I don’t want to see the opposing team celebrating in our park. But that’s not our main concern right now. The main thing is to do the little things to win.”

Such as rapping out singles, perhaps. Patrick Hallmark had three of them, and Vida, Mark Quinn, William Roland and Randy Paulin accounted for two apiece.

The beneficiary of the offensive show, reliever Matt Saier (1-2), earned his first professional win. The right-hander from Georgia Tech allowed three hits and one earned run in four innings after relieving starter Hal Hodge.

Saier said he struggled with his curveball but overall enjoyed his longest outing of the year.

“When you’re used to coming in late in games, you don’t get many chances to win,” said Saier, who is tied with Brent Kaysner with a club-high four saves.

Kaysner pitched the final two innings and allowed a pair of insignificant singles.

The Giants also were in a singles mode, banging out 10 to go with Teodoro Prospero’s seventh-inning double. Roy Corujo, Terry Weaver and Ricardo Calderon had two singles apiece.

Yolvit Torrealba, a 16-year-old Venezuelan, had Bellingham’s biggest single, a two-run shot to center for a 2-0 lead in the second.

Spokane responded with a three-run third, sending nine men to the plate and recording five singles. Quinn’s two-run single highlighted the inning.

Hodge, making his club-high, 13th start, exited in the fourth after a walk to Weaver and Calderon’s single. The tying run, Prospero’s sacrifice to center, was credited to Hodge.

The Indians, who matched last season’s win total, took charge with a three-run fifth and two-run sixth off Jose Abreu (1-2). Roland’s two-run single and Vida’s double did the most damage. Roland is hitting .344 (11 for 32) against the Giants. Vida has a league-high 83 hits. “We didn’t take batting practice today, so the guys got some rest,” Pedrique said. “They felt pretty good out there.”

Steve Prihoda (1-4), the club leader with 53 strikeouts, is scheduled to start the middle game of the three-game series at 7:05 tonight against Darin Blood. A Post Falls native and Gonzaga University product, Blood (4-3) ranks seventh in the league with a 2.74 earned-run average.

Notes

Bellingham played without Julio Morales, who leads the league with 18 doubles and is second in runs (43) and extra-base hits (27). Morales has an elbow injury… . In August, Quinn has five homers, eight doubles and 25 RBIs and Miranda is hitting .358 (29 of 81) with 24 runs in 21 games.

, DataTimes