Indians drop another
For the second night in a row, Spokane squandered a chance to close the gap between East division-leading Boise when the Indians lost 7-5 to the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes in Northwest League play at Avista Stadium on Monday.
Boise, currently 1 1/2 games ahead of the Indians, dropped a close 9-8 game to the Eugene Emeralds, and a Spokane (20-26) win would have put the Indians only half a game back.
Even though they kept the game tied at 4-4 for seven innings, the Indians gave up three runs in the eighth and couldn’t recover.
Neftali Feliz, a right-handed reliever who only joined the team last week, entered the game in the eighth slinging a 96 mph fastball.
But despite his impressive high-velocity fastballs, control eluded Feliz in his Indians debut.
The former Danville Braves hurler struck out one batter, but also allowed two hits and three runs.
Indians manager Tim Hulett wasn’t too concerned.
“Maybe just the newness (affected Feliz’s performance in his debut),” Hulett said. “But he’s not a young guy who hasn’t played before. He’s kinda new to the organization, it’s his first time out.
“But he throws hard. He’s gonna be good. He’ll probably be a starter for us at some point.”
The NWL-leading Volcanoes (37-10) capitalized on Feliz’s problems and built up enough momentum to score a run off Feliz’s replacement, the usually-solid Andrew Laughter.
Laughter accounted for three of the Indians’ 11 strikeouts, but also allowed Andrew Davis to hit an RBI-single to left field.
Two of the Indians’ seven hits came from recent additions to the roster.
In the bottom of the third, catcher Kevin Gossage – freshly promoted from the rookie leagues – hit a triple deep to left field in his first at-bat for the Indians.
Then in the eighth, 17th-round draft pick Mitch Moreland blasted a home run to left-center to close the gap to 7-5 and keep the Indians’ hopes alive.
Moreland, a Mississippi State junior, spent most of the summer playing NCAA-sanctioned summer league baseball in Cape Cod, Mass. He signed with the Texas Rangers last week and has picked up three hits in two games for the Indians.
“I was considering going back to school, but I’m glad to be here,” Moreland said. “I just figured it was time for me to start at the next level. It’s always been a dream of mine to play in the majors and this is one step closer to that.”
Moreland’s timely arrival helped the Indians compensate for losing one of their other left-handed hitters, Tim Smith, to a minor injury last week.
Smith hurt his hand in Spokane’s last road series against Yakima.
The Indians wrap up the series against Salem-Keizer today at 3:30 p.m. at Avista Stadium.
Notes
Spokane left-handed pitcher Michael Kirkman was promoted to the low-A Clinton Lumberkings (Iowa) Monday. Kirkman began the season as a starter for the Indians before moving to the bullpen. He was 1-4 on the season, with a 7.00 ERA.