Cashman delivers a victory
For the second time in three nights the Spokane Indians came up golden in extra innings.
A pinch-hit single by Brandon Cashman scored Bobby LeNoir from second base as Spokane outlasted the Yakima Bears 7-6 in 11 innings Tuesday in Northwest League baseball at Avista Stadium.
Most of the lively crowd of 3,070 had left long before Cashman’s winning hit. The 4 ½-hour game was delayed 28 minutes in the bottom of the ninth when Yakima centerfielder B.J. Lange slid on the outfield warning track and cut his chin. He was taken by ambulance to Sacred Heart Medical Center for precautionary measures.
Cashman had gone 2 for his last 15 – 0 for his last 8 – after hitting four home runs in Spokane’s 11-1 win at Everett on June 27.
“DK (manager Darryl Kennedy) told me to get loose so I got loose, and going out there facing that lefty I was just thinking look for something away and try to put it between the first and second baseman,” Cashman said. “He threw something away and I just rolled over it (with his wrists) but got it between the shortstop and third baseman to get it in the hole there. I’ve been seeing the ball well, I just haven’t been getting base hits.”
The Indians stranded the potential winning run in the ninth and left the bases loaded in the 10th.
For much of the game it was like undergoing a double root canal for the Indians (10-8).
“Tonight was definitely a grinding game,” Cashman said. “Both teams were playing good ball. It was just one of those games where it was tough to get a run at times. They got a couple there in the ninth. We got a couple of chances and we finally put them away.”
Spokane tied it in the sixth inning at 4-4 on a single by shortstop Bobby LeNoir. The Indians went ahead 5-4 moments later when Travis Metcalf drew a bases-loaded walk. And LeNoir made it 6-4 when he scored on a wild pitch. Yakima catcher Orlando Mercado quickly retrieved the ball but his throw to the pitcher covering the plate was not in time.
The lead held until the ninth. Erik Schindewolf led off with a single and the next batter, Carlos Gonzalez, was hit by reliever Jesse Ingram. But Ingram appeared as if he would work out of trouble when he got the next batter to fly out and struck out the following batter.
But Mercado lined a 1-1 pitch down the right-field line for a triple, scoring Schindewolf and Gonzalez when the ball got tangled up in Spokane’s bullpen.
Nine of 10 Bears got at least one hit.
Yakima scored runs in each of the first three innings. Gonzalez hit a two-out, opposite-field homer in the first inning. Brandon Burgess’ sacrifice fly in the second inning made it 2-0.
Spokane tied it at 2-2 in the second when LeNoir got the first of his two RBIs and another run scored on Brandon Boggs’ fielder’s choice.
•Right-handed pitcher Thomas Diamond, the Texas Rangers’ No. 1 draft pick, will make his pro debut tonight when he starts for the Indians.
Diamond, 21, selected 10th overall out of the University of New Orleans, is expected to pitch no more than two innings. The 6-foot-4 Diamond was rated as having the fifth best fastball of all college prospects. He was 6-4 with a 2.38 ERA in 113 2/3 innings this spring. He also had 138 strikeouts.