D’Alessandro Displays Unbeaten Form

Marc D’Alessandro has the perfect confidence to match his perfect record.

“You’d be confident, too, if you could throw like that,” said Spokane Indians pitching coach Theo Shaw.

“I’d be surprised, the way he pitches, if anyone in this league can beat him.”

Changing speeds with precision, D’Alessandro (8-0) baffled Spokane for nine innings Thursday during the Portland Rockies’ 5-1 Northwest League win at Seafirst Stadium.

The 6-foot-2 left-hander retired the final 14 Indians batters and faced just 29 batters - two more than the minimum.

Following his 109-pitch masterwork, D’Alessandro said he knew Spokane (15-26) wouldn’t score against him after the Indians’ one-run first inning.

“Once we got our second run, I knew it was in the bag, because they weren’t going to get another run - at least off me,” D’Alessandro said. “I felt in control.”

Speaking of control, Spokane starter Allen Sanders (1-4) dominated Portland for five innings. Alas, Sanders and the Indians couldn’t avoid Portland’s five-run sixth.

Sanders pitched no-hit ball through five innings. Portland also didn’t register a hit during the final three innings, off reliever Jose Santiago.

But as they’ve done all season, the Southern Division-leading Rockies (27-13) took what was given their offense and relied on their pitching.

Garrett Neubart, leading off the sixth, broke up Sanders’ no-hitter with a bouncer just off the glove of third baseman William Roland. Little could Spokane know, Neubart would get another at-bat before the inning was through.

Rogelio Arias followed with a solid single to center, bringing up speedy leadoff hitter Elvis Pena in a sacrifice situation. Spokane opted to keep Roland near third, with the hopes of forcing out lead runner Neubart at third.

Instead, Sanders couldn’t handle Pena’s bunt near the mound, and the bases were loaded with nobody out. Sanders, a right-hander, logged an out and was replaced by lefty Jonathan Albrecht to face right-handed No. 3 hitter Dave Feuerstein. Lefty Justin Drizos was on deck.

“This isn’t the big leagues; if we could go righty/righty, lefty/lefty all the time, we’d do it,” Shaw said.

Feuerstein singled off Albrecht, opening the gates for a Rockies parade around the bases. Blake Barthol’s two-run single, which gave Portland a 4-1 lead, was the big blow.

”(Sanders) was running out of gas,” Indians manager Al Pedrique said. “Albrecht needs to pitch, too.”

Albrecht allowed two earned runs in two-thirds of an inning.

”(Sanders) was pitching a good game,” D’Alessandro said. “I thought they’d leave him in a little bit longer.”

D’Alessandro had no doubt about finishing his work, even though he hadn’t lasted more than six innings in his previous seven starts.

“The only reason I hadn’t gone more than six before was the pitch count,” he said. “I wouldn’t have been out there so long tonight if I’d had a high pitch count.”

Spokane’s Tony Miranda blasted D’Alessandro’s first pitch for a double over the head of center fielder Neubart. Patrick Hallmark followed with a bounded RBI single to center, just over the head of D’Alessandro.

Spokane produced little else. Mark Quinn had his first hit - a single - since breaking his finger early in the season. James Vida singled to left in the fifth to extend his hitting streak to 17 games.

The series, knotted 2-2, ends tonight with a 7:05 start.

, DataTimes