Too little, too late: Indians’ rally falls short

The Indians’ offense lay dormant for the first seven innings in Spokane’s 5-4 extra innings loss to Tri-City at Avista Stadium on Sunday night.

With the Dust Devils ahead 3-0 thanks to a two-run home run from Josh Banda in the second, and a solo home run by Phil Cuadrado two innings later, the Indians seemed unable to find an answer.

Spokane was hitless in seven innings and did not get a man to third base until the bottom of the eighth, when the Indians’ offense finally started connecting with Tri-City’s pitches.

Tim Rodriguez got on base with a grounder to first. Then after Tri-City southpaw Drew Coffey walked Julio Borbon, second baseman Matt Lawson – who’d gone 0 for 3 until that point in the evening – stepped up to the plate and hit a triple to right field that scored both runners.

Renny Osuna extended the rally with a base hit to left-center field that sent Lawson home with the tying run.

The score stayed at 3-3 until the 11th inning when Tri-City right fielder Brian Rike hit a double that drove in two runs.

The Indians tried to put together another comeback in the bottom half of the inning when designated hitter Ian Gac hit a solo home run to left field with two outs.

But it wasn’t enough.

Jonathan Greene subsequently ground out to third base to end the game.

“We were tasting a lot of pitches out of the zone today,” Gac said. “When we got to extra innings, the skipper came over and told us, everybody just think base hits, base hits, base hits. And that’s what I was trying to do. I wasn’t trying to do too much.

“Unfortunately I popped out when it mattered, then scored the solo homer.”

Gac went 2 for 5 on the night and struck out twice. He now has a league-leading 16 home runs, but his big swing seems to make for a lot of all-or-nothing at bats, as he also leads the team with 68 strikeouts.

Indians manager Tim Hulett applauded Gac’s last-ditch effort at the plate.

“If somebody was on base, then that home run is not a solo job,” Hulett said. “Gac was just hitting. He always hits like that. He was trying to get a double, but he hits so hard that if he gets a bat on it, it’s gone.”