Indians Close Gap On Hawks
The Boise Hawks aren’t supposed to be outhit like this it’s not their nature.
Traditionally, the Hawks are atop nearly every Northwest League hitting category. They had a league-record 804 hits in 1997, hitting .290 as a team.
Boise starter Brandon Emanuel isn’t supposed to get lit up like this - the right-hander had allowed - only one earned run in 17 innings this season.
But Monday night, the Hawks were pounded early as Spokane had nine hits the first two innings on the way to an 8-1 win before a crowd of 3,117 at Seafirst Stadium.
The Indians (13-8) moved within two games of North Division-leading Boise (15-6) and have a chance to sweep a series with the Hawks for the first time since taking all five at Boise in 1996.
The three-game series concludes at 7:05 tonight.
“Stat-wise, they beat our best pitcher,” Boise manager Tom Kotchman said. “They knocked him out of the box. He didn’t have his good stuff. They swing the bats.”
It was the worst defeat of the season for the Hawks, who were outhit 12-6 and have lost three straight for their longest skid of the season.
In four previous meetings this season, the Hawks had outhit Spokane 40-36. The first three were one-run Hawks victories at Boise. The fourth was an 8-5 Spokane win at home Sunday. Entering Monday’s game, Boise’s .270 team batting average led the league. The Indians were fourth at .251.
“We were just ready to play,” said Spokane catcher Paul Phillips, who went 3 for 4 and missed hitting for the cycle by a double. “We are both talented teams. Things are just falling in our favor at our place. They fell in their favor at their place. Everything is going our way.”
The Indians took a 4-0 lead in the first inning, tagging Emanuel for six hits, highlighted by Phillips’ solo home run to left field on a 1-0 count. Brian Shackelford doubled in the first and blasted a two-run home run over the right-field fence in the second as Spokane went ahead 6-0.
Emanuel (2-1) lasted just two innings after giving up six runs and nine hits with one strikeout and a walk. His earned-run average went from 0.53 to 3.32.
Spokane starter Corey Thurman (1-1) pitched six innings, giving up one run on five hits with two strikeouts and two walks to earn his first win since he won twice in April for Single-A long season Lansing (Mich.).
“It’s not that I wasn’t pitching well,” said Thurman, a right-hander. “But sometimes the chips just don’t fall your way. It’s like after I let the ball go when I’m pitching it’s out of my control. That’s why I love baseball, you can work off your failures. That’s how I’ve learned.”
The Hawks brought their lone run across in the sixth when Mike Christensen’s double off the right-center field wall scored Jason Huisman.
Spokane third baseman Henry Calderon went 3 for 4 to extend his hitting streak to 13 games. Phillips said he expects Boise to come out sharper tonight.
“I don’t feel they’ve played up to their potential at our park,” he said. “Just because we’ve won two doesn’t mean we can relax.” Kotchman said it will depend on how his players bounce back.
“It’s baseball,” he said. “The hardest adjustment from college to here is to come out and play every day. Whatever happens the night before, good or bad, it’s over with. The people who can separate that become the better ballplayers.”
Notes
Spokane right-hander Monty Ward (0-0, 5.28 ERA) takes the mound tonight against Boise lefty Jeff Hundley (3-0, 1.37).