Cunningham’S Base Work, Home Run Ignite Indians

Sun., July 30, 2000

With a run here and a run there, the Spokane Indians held off the Portland Rockies 5-4 Saturday in a Northwest League game at Civic Stadium.

The Indians scored in the first inning on an RBI triple by Abel Martinez that scored Aaron Melebeck. That one-run jump start helped the Indians plenty as they did not trail throughout the game and squared the five-game series at 2 games each.

The game was tied briefly, when Clint Barmes drove in two runs with a triple in the Portland third. But Chad Santos hit a home run leading off the next inning for Spokane. It was his league-leading 10th homer and his 26th RBI.

Marco Cunningham scored three runs for the Indians, the first on a solo home run in the third. His, too, was a leadoff blast.

Cunningham was hit by a pitch, stole second and scored on a single by Justin Cowan in the fifth. In the seventh, he drew a walk, stole second again and scored on a single by Melebeck.

Portland’s Barmes was just as busy. In addition to his two-run triple, he doubled and scored in the sixth, then singled and scored in the eighth. Both his runs came on sacrifice flies hit by Brad Hawpe.

At the midway point of the season, the Indians are 20-18 and are 10-8 in one-run games.

Zach McClellan (0-0, 3.12 ERA) starts for Spokane today against Jermaine Van Buren (2-3, 2.55).

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Cunningham’S Base Work, Home Run Ignite Indians

Jesse Tinsley

Jim Meehan

Molly Quinn

Rob Curley

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