Indians rally late to keep playoff hopes alive

BOISE – In a playoff race, you’re really only as good as the last game you played.

Twenty-four hours ago, the Spokane Indians looked like a beaten team

Today, somehow, they’ve got that postseason strut again, as two ninth-inning swings and a gritty eight-inning performance from Broc Coffman led the Indians to a 3-1 win over Boise in front of 2,290 at Memorial Stadium.

Tri-City kept control of the East Division, though, defeating visiting Yakima 4-3, meaning a Tri-City win tomorrow eliminates the Indians regardless of their result. A Spokane win and a Tri-City loss is the only combination that gets the Indians into the playoffs, because of a tiebreaker involving their records against Boise and Yakima (a combined 9-14). Boise was eliminated with the loss.

In a game that lasted a shade under two hours, both teams fast-forwarded to the ninth tied at 1 before Freddie Thon stepped to the plate against Boise reliever Nick Thompson (2-1).

Thompson threw Thon a good 2-2 curveball away, but the Indians’ cleanup hitter got enough of it, driving the ball just over the left-field fence for his team-leading 12th home run of the year.

“I got it pretty good,” Thon said. “I was kind of looking for it. I had seen it earlier in the at-bat and I got a pretty good swing at it and fouled it off.”

Following Thon’s blast, Thompson tried to slip a 1-2 fastball by John Mayberry Jr., and he crushed the pitch over the fence in left-center for a two-run cushion.

It was Mayberry Jr.’s third homer in five games to go along with a .421 batting average (8 for 19) and four RBIs during the streak.

Spokane wouldn’t have been in position to make the late charge if it wasn’t for the left arm of Coffman, who came up with an incredibly clutch start.

Coffman (2-2) went eight innings, allowing two hits, a walk, an unearned run and struck out six Hawks. He threw 84 pitches a night after manager Greg Riddoch had pleaded for a starter to last more than six innings.

“I was hoping to go more than five, and it’s good that I came through, I guess,” said Coffman, who leads the team in walks, but only went to three-ball counts on three of 26 hitters.

“I didn’t have my great stuff tonight. I spotted up my fastball really well, moving it in and out, and they just chased my bad stuff.”

Also, Coffman picked up his first win this season as a starter in a game where he made his 11th start. Jon Wilson pitched a 1-2-3 ninth, striking out two Hawks for his 11th save.

“If I hadn’t made that error in the first inning, that’s a shutout,” said Thon, whose error on Boise’s leadoff hitter led to the Hawks’ only run. “Broc pitched the hell out of it. We knew he could pitch like that, he just hadn’t really done it before.”

Eighteen-year-old Scott Taylor was outstanding for the Hawks in his second Northwest League start after playing most of the summer in the Arizona Rookie League, where he posted a 6.89 ERA in 15 2/3 innings.

Against Spokane, though, the 2005 fifth-round pick out of Richmond, Va., allowed two hits, no runs, no walks and struck out five, only throwing 59 pitches in five innings.

Tonight, Spokane will throw Kellan McConnell, who has been better of late, whittling his ERA from near 9.00 in July to 6.07, with opposing batters hitting .294 against him. The Hawks will pitch this year’s first-round selection, 19-year-old Mark Pawelek from Springville (Utah) H.S. Pawelek was 0-3 with a 2.72 ERA in 43 innings with the Cubs’ Arizona Rookie League team, and will be making his second start with the Hawks. In his first, he allowed one run in three innings.