Indians roll over AquaSox
It took only one early base hit in Game 3 for the Spokane Indians to claim the lead for the first time in the five-game series against the Everett AquaSox – a lead they held.
An RBI single among three walks, an error and a wild pitch gave Spokane a first-inning two-run lead in the 14-2 victory against Everett on Friday night in Northwest League baseball play in front of a crowd of 7,326 at Avista Stadium.
The sold-out crowd saw the Indians (10-15) score runs in eight consecutive innings with 13 hits, including a two-run home run from Spokane’s home run leader Chad Tracy in the fourth inning, a three-run triple in the sixth from Joe Napoli, and a solo home run from Chris Davis in the eighth.
“We’ve been swinging the bats,” Spokane manager Mike Micucci said. “We started to get runs early on and opportunities started to open up.”
Everett (14-11) also ended up walking nine Spokane batters and had four errors to Spokane’s one.
“The last two games we’ve had some hard-hit balls, just tonight we found some holes,” Micucci said.
Three Spokane pitchers went three innings each and combined to give up just one earned run, that one charged to starter Craig Crow. John Slusarz (1-2) picked up his first win and Patrick Donovan got his first save.
Donovan yielded three hits and had bases loaded at one point, but gave up no runs.
“We had a big lead and I just wanted to minimize the damage,” Donovan said. “It was kind of an off night – I wasn’t throwing strikes like I normally do.”
Spokane took the lead in the first with two walks and an error, loading the bases for Thomas Berkery to get the only base hit of the inning to right field, scoring the first run. A wild pitch thrown by Bryan Ball scored another run, giving Spokane a 2-0 lead.
Designated hitter Tracy, who finished with three RBIs, added another run to Spokane’s lead in the second with a single that scored Nick Cadena. Cadena, who had doubled to the left-center field fence, finished the night 3 for 4 with two doubles.
Everett recorded its first run in the third with a RBI single from Joe White. But Spokane reclaimed its three-run lead with an RBI double from Chris Kemp, knocking in Berkery, who walked and advanced to third on a throwing error.
Spokane added three more hits and two runs in the fourth inning with Tracy hitting his fourth home run, scoring Davis to give the Indians a 6-1 lead.
A wild pitch thrown behind the batter by Slusarz in the fifth scored Everett’s second run.
But again Spokane answered with a RBI single from Cadena that brought in Jay Heafner, who was hit by a pitch and then advanced to third on a wild pitch.
Napoli, who recently arrived in Spokane from the Arizona Rookie League, was 0 for 3 going into the sixth with two strikeouts. But with the bases loaded he tripled to right field. That made the score 10-2 and the Indians were on their way to an easy victory.
Game 4 against the AquaSox will be today at 6:30 p.m. Michael Ballard (0-3) will start on the mound for Spokane.
There will be a fireworks show after the game.