Indians Pull Out Still Another Victory

The Spokane Indians and Everett AquaSox extended their pleasure and pain, respectively, Sunday night.

For a fourth straight game, Spokane posted a come-from-behind victory. The Indians remained unbeaten at Seafirst Stadium, winning 5-4 in 12 innings in a Northwest League baseball game before 3,522 fans.

Everett lost its seventh straight game, and this defeat perhaps stung the most.

The struggling AquaSox seemed destined to break out of their slump as they led 3-0 going into the bottom of the eighth inning.

But the Indians (10-3) scored four runs with the help of a balk, an error and a go-ahead single by Juan LeBron.

Everett somehow managed to bounce back in the ninth to force extra innings when Scott Maynard plated his first RBI of the season.

That only prolonged the misery, though. Spokane, which squandered several opportunities throughout, prevailed in the 12th when Dave Willis laced the game-winning, bases-loaded hit on a 1-2 count just over third base and inside the foul-line chalk.

And the hit came against a gimmick defense. Everett (4-9) took out an outfielder and inserted an extra infielder after the AquaSox intentionally walked LeBron to load the bases with one out.

“I thought once we tied it up we had a chance to win,” Spokane manager Jeff Garber said after the four-hour marathon.

When LeBron put the Indians ahead, Garber inserted reliever Rich Boring in the ninth for a third save opportunity.

But Everett’s Victor Martinez greeted Boring with a lead-off triple. Maynard followed with his game-tying single.

“We were slowly getting people on base all night, we just couldn’t come up with the big hit,” Garber said.

It’s a trend Garber would like to see change - though he won’t turn back any of the comeback victories.

Spokane is 8-0 at home, and the Indians are off to one of the finest starts in team history.

The home record was in jeopardy through seven innings.

“We made a lot of bad mistakes on the bases and defensive mistakes,” Garber said. “But we keep scraping and we keep finding a way late in ballgames to score some runs. They believe in their ability to win ballgames. We seem to be able to turn it on late, but we’re not going to be able to do that all the time.”

Spokane hasn’t had a day off since the season started. Garber planned to let his players sleep in today before they travel to Everett to continue a six-game set with the first of three games tonight.

Garber suspected the slow start Sunday was because of tiredness.

“We’ve gone at it hard for two weeks, and I think we were a little lethargic (tonight),” he said. “But they’ve got to learn that this is their job and they have to come out and produce every night. Both clubs are going to be very tired (tonight). We’ll find out a little of what our team is made of.”

Notes

Spokane will send left-hander Jason Gooding (1-0) against Everett righty Jose Gonzalez (1-0)… . The Indians will be on the road for eight games, finishing with a five-game series against Southern Oregon in Medford. Spokane returns home July 9 against Yakima… . Spokane’s Dermal Brown, who leads or is tied for the lead in several NWL offensive categories, went 1 for 4 and walked twice Sunday. His league-leading average slipped 18 points to .471.

, DataTimes