Fasano’s blast sparks Indians

Three batters into the game, Eric Hurley found himself in a 2-0 hole.

Jim Fasano threw Hurley a rope.

Fasano drilled a three-run homer in the first inning Saturday night to spark the Spokane Indians to a 9-3 win over the Tri-City Dust Devils in the first game of a Northwest League baseball doubleheader.

The second contest, the rubber game of the three-game series, started at 9:20 p.m. By then, many in the sellout crowd of 7,365 had exited. The Indians led 1-0 after three innings, courtesy of Travis Metcalf’s run-scoring single in the first.

With the first-game victory, the Indians (25-22) closed within two games of the Eastern Division-leading Dust Devils (27-20).

Hurley attempted to sneak a slider past T-C third baseman Matt Macri in the first inning. Macri, the NWL leader in runs batted in, crushed a one-out, two-run homer to left field.

“You have to look toward the next hitter,” said Hurley, a first-round selection in June’s amateur draft out of Wolfson High in Jacksonville, Fla. “You can’t really think about it.”

The Indians quickly took Hurley off the hook, scoring four runs against Steven Register in the first. The big hit was Fasano’s two-out shot to right-center, on the first offering he saw from Register.

“I was hoping he’d throw a first-pitch fastball,” Fasano said. “The biggest thing for me was deciding whether to wear my sunglasses to hit, and I had left them on.”

Hurley buckled down and pitched no-hit ball for his final three innings.

“They got it back for me,” Hurley said of the Indians’ hitters. “They gave me four (runs) and I ran with it from there.”

Register (3-5) had won three consecutive games and hadn’t walked a batter in 17 innings. That streak ended against the first Indians batter he faced, Tug Hulett, who drew his league-leading 38th walk of the season.

Register, who entered the evening with an earned-run average of 3.13, walked five and allowed five earned runs in four innings.

Fasano extended his hitting string to eight games. The 6-foot-5, 240-pound first baseman is hitting .441 in his last eight games, with nine runs and 10 RBIs.

“Sometimes it’s just a matter of confidence,” Fasano said. “I kind of struggled a little bit with my confidence for the first month-and-a-half.”

Marcos Herrera (4-1) earned the win despite allowing his first earned run since July 17. In his last five appearances, the right-hander from the Dominican Republic has allowed eight hits in 13 innings, striking out nine and walking two.

Ben Harrison’s two-out, two-run homer to left gave the Indians a 7-3 lead in the fifth. The Indians also had a two-out rally in the sixth, started by back-to-back doubles by Bobby LeNoir and Hulett. A bases-loaded walk to Mike Nickeas scored Hulett.

The Indians will begin a five-game home series tonight against the West Division-leading Everett AquaSox. Everett is 3-2 against Spokane this season.

Tri-City traveled home to Pasco for a three-game set against Boise. The Dust Devils will host Spokane Aug. 16-18.

Notes

Spokane catcher Mike Nickeas was named the Texas Rangers’ minor-league player of the month for July. Nickeas hit .323 with five homers and 23 RBIs, despite starting the month 5 for 26. He boosted his July average with a 13-game hitting streak. … Indians center fielder Brandon Boggs missed his fourth consecutive game with bruised ribs. Boggs, a fourth-round draftee out of Georgia Tech, is listed as day to day.