Indians lead East

EUGENE, Ore. – The Spokane Indians used stellar relief pitching and clutch hitting to rally for a 5-3 victory over the Eugene Emeralds on Saturday night at Civic Stadium.

The win, coupled with Boise’s 9-1 loss to Salem-Keizer, gave the Indians (23-28) a half-game lead over the Hawks (23-29) and Tri-City Dust Devils (23-29) in the East Division of the Northwest League.

Shut-down efforts by relievers Daniel Sattler and Tommy Hunter gave the Indians time to stage their comeback.

Sattler (1-1) relieved starter Fabio Castillo to start the sixth inning and tossed two shutout innings – allowing only a walk. Hunter came in to start the eighth and set down all six batters he faced to earn his first save of the season.

Eugene jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning, but Spokane’s Mitchell Moreland walked to lead off the second inning and scored on a double by Ian Gac to cut the lead in half.

Spokane pulled even in the top of the fifth when Luke Salas led off with a double, took third on a sacrifice bunt by Andres James and scored on a sacrifice fly by Matthew Lawson.

Eugene answered with a run in its half of the fifth to go up 3-2, but the Indians took the lead for good with a pair of runs in the seventh.

Steven Marquardt drew a leadoff walk and scored on a one-out single by Salas. Lawson delivered a two-out single to score Salas. Moreland hit his second home run of the season in the eighth – a solo shot – to cap the scoring.