Penny Cashes In Spokane Reliever Has Plenty On The Ball As Indians Come Back To Beat Aquasox
Spokane Indians relief pitcher Tony Penny doesn’t figure he’s down to his last pennies, but he knows he doesn’t have a lot of change left in his pockets.
The fourth-year pro admits this could be the pivotal summer in his minor-league baseball career.
Appearances like Sunday’s, though, should catch the attention of the parent Kansas City Royals.
Penny struck out six batters in four innings as the Indians rallied for a 6-5 win over Everett before a sun-baked crowd of 5,095 in a Northwest League game at Seafirst Stadium.
“He knows his career is here and now,” Spokane manager Jeff Garber said of Penny, who spent last summer at Lansing, Mich. “He has a below-average fastball that’s put him behind a lot of other guys. Sometimes, we look at velocity, but the bottom line is you get people out. And he’s going out there and changing speeds and keeping the ball down. Both games he’s pitched for us, he’s given us a chance to win. And he’s the reason why we won today. He knows the urgency of it.”
And if the Indians hope to contend for a league championship, Penny will have to be in the middle of it - literally.
That’s all the opportunity Penny wants, too.
“I just have to get to a happy medium and develop my pitches well and just wait on Kansas City to do what they’re going to do,” said the 22-year-old from Newberry, S.C., who’s been a reliever since he was drafted. “I just want to perform to my best and help my teammates win, no matter where I’m at. I just want the team to win. It’s not about me, it’s the team.”
Spokane starter Corey Thurman was effective in his second start, but was the victim of poor defense.
Everett jumped on the Indians for a pair of runs each in the first and third innings, but three of the runs were unearned as Spokane committed three errors.
Spokane’s hot-hitting right fielder Jeremy Dodson started the rally and finished it.
Dodson, off to a 8-for-18 start, hit his second home run in as many games with a two-run, opposite field shot that cut Everett’s lead in half at 4-2 in the fourth inning.
Spokane (2-4) scored single runs in the fifth and sixth to tie it before Everett (2-4) regained the lead at 5-4 with another unearned run in the seventh.
But the Indians rebounded in their half of the inning to score the tying and eventual game-winning runs.
Jeremy Freitas’ one-hop burner to third base scored Paul Phillips. With two outs, Juan Rivera’s single to the left-center gap was muffed by center fielder Larry Haynes, allowing Rivera to advance to third.
Dodson followed with a line-drive single to right that scored Rivera.
Garber likes what he sees after the first week. He’s especially pleased with his team’s character.
“So far, we’ve handled adversity pretty well,” he said. “We’ve had some horrendous losses, but they keep coming out and play hard every inning. We have weaknesses, yes. We’ve got to improve on our defense and we have to improve on our pitching. We’re going to have to chip away and win as a team. One guy’s not going to carry this team.”
Notes
Spokane heads to Portland for its second road series, a five-game set that begins tonight. Right-hander Monty Ward, a fourth-round pick out of Texas Tech, will start… . Shortstop Merrell Ligons, hitless in 13 at-bats, sat out Sunday, but Garber said Ligons is the starter and he expects him to break out of his offensive and defensive slumps soon… . Spokane will return home Saturday for a five-game series with Salem-Kaiser.