Indians Leave Bats On Road Spokane Blows Several Good Scoring Chances In 3-2 Loss
The Spokane Indians will take batting practice today.
The hot-hitting Indians returned home Tuesday and promptly cooled off.
Fresh off a four-game sweep of three-time Northwest League champion Boise, Spokane couldn’t manage a timely hit as Bellingham prevailed 3-2 before 3,958 fans at Seafirst Stadium.
“We’ll be back on our normal schedule (today),” said Spokane manager Bob Herold, whose Indians didn’t take batting practice during or after their sweep of Boise. “You stay with something as long as it’s going well.”
Who can argue. The Indians scored 39 runs and collected 48 hits at Boise.
Spokane (11-17) had opportunities aplenty against Bellingham, which moved to .500 at 14-14 and remained in second place ahead of the Indians in the North Division.
The Indians put runners on base in each of the first seven innings. Consider these wasted chances:
After a leadoff out, Spokane loaded the bases in the first inning. But its threat ended when Giants right fielder Brian Manning threw out Tony Miranda at the plate.
Rick Pitts singled, stole second and moved to third on a passed ball to open the third inning. But two strikeouts and a groundout left Pitts standing at the corner.
In the fourth, Spokane had runners on first and second with one out, but didn’t advance them.
In the sixth, the Indians moved runners to second and third after a lead-off homer by Doug Blosser. A strikeout and groundout, however, aborted another opportunity.
“We played our team that we play the day after a road trip,” Herold explained. “We gave some guys an opportunity to play that hadn’t played in a while, and we went right back to hitting the ball in the air.
“We were hitting the ball behind the runners in Boise and executing. We come back here swinging at the fences and pop the ball up a lot and didn’t move the runners along. And we cost ourselves the game.”
Plain and simple.
Bellingham scored a single run in the second inning on an RBI single by Manning. The Giants added their final runs in the third when Teodoro Prospero hit a two-out slider over the left-field fence. The pitch was Spokane starter Steve Hueston’s (1-1) lone mistake in six solid innings.
It may have been “Church Night,” but there was no divine intervention for the Indians.
In the ninth, Herold sent up back-to-back pinch hitters, but both struck out. In fact, Giants reliever Mick Pageler, the fifth pitcher used by Manager Ozzie Virgil, coaxed three strikeouts in the final inning to secure his league-leading fifth save.
“The things we’ve been doing well we didn’t do,” Herold said. “When you do that it’s trouble.”
Notes
Bellingham baserunners would be advised to think twice about trying to steal on Spokane catcher Juan Robles. He gunned down all four would-be thieves Tuesday, and Robles has thrown 11 of 15 runners out this season.
A pair of southpaws will face off in tonight’s 7:05 game. Spokane will start Scott Mullen (0-2, 5.40 ERA) while Bellingham will counter with Ken Vining, who has no record and is making his first start.
Bellingham shortstop Mike Caruso’s struggles in the field continued Tuesday as he committed two errors to extend his team-high mark to 21, 11 more than the closest Indian.
The Indians and KSPS Public Television raised $1,283 for the Spokane public station on July 10 when 4,085 attended the fourth annual Sesame Street Night. A portion of ticket proceeds was donated to KSPS.
, DataTimes