Indians lose in 11; still 1 back

On the Spokane Indians bench following their 11-inning, heartbreaking 10-9 loss to Yakima, glazed eyes and blank stares were the emotion of choice.

That’s about all the feeling you can muster after rallying from seven runs down only to lose in extra innings.

It was a game nobody really deserved to win – Yakima made seven errors and Spokane scored nine runs on five hits – but the Indians had the momentum going into extra innings.

Down 9-3 heading into the bottom of the eighth, Spokane loaded the bases with nobody out against Bears reliever Matthew Krohe.

What happened next was significantly more T-ball than A-ball.

Left fielder Joe Kemp grounded a ball into the hole at short, and Bears shortstop Juan Olivares rushed his throw on the force play at second, throwing the ball into foul territory down the right-field line.

Jaen Centeno tracked the ball down as Freddie Thon, who started the play on first, charged around third. Centeno’s throw flew over the head of the catcher as Thon scored the third run of the play. Kemp didn’t stop as Krohe backed up the play, beating Krohe’s throw to the plate – four runs scoring on a fielder’s choice and two errors.

Spokane still trailed 9-7, and Taylor Teagarden tied it in the bottom of the ninth with a two-run homer off Yakima closer Chris Thompson (3-0).

It went to the 11th, and the Bears took the lead with an RBI double by Lester Contreras off Warren Rosebrock (2-1), one of four extra-base hits for Contreras on the day.

Spokane went down quietly in the bottom half of the inning, stranding Joey Hooft on first with consecutive strikeouts by Teagarden and Steve Murphy to end the game.

Those were two of 19 strikeouts by Spokane batters, three short of a 46-year-old Northwest League record.

“We only had five hits, so we didn’t swing well. That was just an ugly game, and they say that’s professional baseball,” Spokane manager Greg Riddoch said. “We almost won it even though they were trying to give it us and we wouldn’t take it.”

Even though the Indians (31-35) stayed a game back of Tri-City, who lost 4-0 to Boise, there was more bad news besides the loss.

Lizahio Baez, Spokane’s leader in batting average and homers, despite playing in just over half the Indians’ games, will be out at least a few days – and possibly the remainder of the season – with a sprained left ankle.

German Duran, Spokane’s everyday shortstop, missed Sunday’s game with a broken blood vessel in his right hand. His replacement at short, Julio Santana and Santana’s replacement at second base, David Peterson, combined for an 0-for-9 night with five strikeouts, and both are under the Mendoza Line on the season.

With rest, Duran may be in the lineup tonight.

And after all this, Spokane is in the exact same spot today, playing the worst team in the league, one game back of a playoff spot.

“That’s why you play one day at a time, and this stinks and it’s ugly, but guess what? It’s over and tomorrow’s the only one that counts,” Riddoch said.

Notes

The Northwest League’s playoff format for this season has the East winner playing the first two at the West winner, then flip-flopping for the final three of the best-of-5 series. If Spokane was the East champion, the roles would be reversed because of conflicts with the Spokane Interstate Fair. Spokane would host the first two games, a Thursday night game after the season ended on Wednesday, then a Friday afternoon game, then finish the series up at the West champion. … Tonight’s starters: Spokane RHP Brett Zamzow (1-4, 7.12) vs. Yakima RHP Chris Kemlo (3-7, 6.10).