Boise blasts Spokane
Spokane Indians manager Mike Micucci didn’t know who wore Indians uniforms on Wednesday night.
He said it was a different Indians club that showed up in a 15-1 loss to the Boise Hawks in the middle game of a three-game Northwest League series in front of 5,003 spectators at Avista Stadium.
The loss officially eliminated Spokane (21-42) from postseason play.
Boise (35-28) totaled 18 hits and three Hawks pitchers combined for 11 strikeouts.
“We didn’t do anything well,” Micucci said. “We didn’t swing the bats well, we didn’t play defense well. Every aspect of the game we did very poorly.”
Spokane finished with six hits and recorded two errors.
Boise didn’t score its three runs until the ninth inning in the 7-3 loss to Spokane on Tuesday. Boise manager Steve McFarland said his team was a little bit more determined in the second game.
“I thought we hit the ball well and defensively we played well,” McFarland said.
The Hawks posted two big innings, scoring five runs in the fifth against reliever John Slusarz and seven runs in the eighth against Austin Weilep.
Back-to-back Spokane errors assisted in Boise’s five-run fifth, giving the Hawks a 7-0 lead.
On the first error, Matt Matulia reached second base when shortstop Joey Hooft dropped his fly ball. Third baseman Nick Cadena’s error two batters later led to a big inning that included Elvin Puello’s RBI double and three RBI singles.
Spokane starting pitcher Kasey Kiker (0-6) pitched four innings, yielding two runs. He walked five batters, including three straight in the second, and struck out four.
Boise’s Russ Canzler, the league leader with 51 RBIs, had an RBI double in the first.
Boise scored its second run on a confusing play in the second. With the bases loaded and nobody out, Matt Camp hit a fly to left that Joe Napoli dropped in fair territory. Napoli recovered to record a forceout at third base, but Steven Clevenger scored from third.
Patrick Donovan relieved Slusarz in the sixth and gave up the eighth run on a sacrifice fly to right field after yielding a base hit and a double.
Weilep relieved Donovan in the eighth and ran into trouble. Boise cycled through 11 batters and unloaded six hits, scoring seven runs.
Spokane avoided a shutout in the sixth with a RBI single to right by Napoli after the bases were loaded from a base hit, a walk and a hit by pitch.
“We had a few bright spots, but they were very few and very far between,” Micucci said.
Winner William Muldowney (1-2) pitched five shutout innings, allowing three hits and striking out seven.
Canzler led the Hawks, finishing 4 for 6 with two runs and three RBIs. Matulia and Mario Mercedes both finished 3 for 4.
The final game of the series is tonight at 6:30.