Indians in a walk
Everett reliever Marquis Pettis, taking over in the middle of a bases-loaded jam after the Indians had already racked up a dozen hits in Friday night’s game, stood on the mound in the bottom of the sixth with one out.
First he threw a wild pitch to score a run. Then he walked three of the next four batters to score two more before he was pulled.
That was the kind of pressure the Spokane Indians put on AquaSox pitchers throughout their 8-3 Northwest League baseball victory as the Indians outhit the Sox 15-5 in front of 6,827 fans.
“He couldn’t get his breaking ball over, and so he was stuck with throwing one pitch,” Spokane manager Tim Hulett said of Pettis. “We’re trying to get (our) guys to pay attention, recognize what a guy can and can’t do.
“The guys are very aggressive in that situation. I like the way we go about our business there.”
With the Indians already up 4-1, Spokane’s Joey Butler started off the four-run sixth with a lead-off triple off the wall in right-center field. He went 3 for 4 on the night – though his single in his second appearance that inning gave the AquaSox a third out when the ball hit Jason Ogata, who was running to third base.
The sixth sealed the win for the Indians (2-2), though the only RBI hit was Jason Kaase’s single that brought in Butler.
Matt West, who received the first of the bases-loaded walks, went 2 for 3 with two singles.
“He had a good night tonight,” Hulett said. “He’s just a hard-nosed, comes-to-play-every-day kind of guy. He’s a blue-collar worker is what he is.”
“A lot of our guys produced today,” West said, “and I’m just happy to be one of the guys on the team to help the team win.”
The Indians scored two in the second inning on singles by Kaase and Cody Podraza. Eric Fry smacked a two-run homer in the third for a 4-1 lead.
The AquaSox went through four pitchers in their loss – three of them seeing action in the sixth. Starter Bobby Lafromboise (0-1), who got the loss, pitched three innings and gave up four runs and seven hits.
His relievers didn’t do much better. Matt Renfree gave up five hits in 21/3 innings, and was charged with the four sixth-inning runs. Robbie Dominguez, who relieved Pettis in the sixth, closed out the night.
“We’re going to run into good pitchers. I want to beat those good pitchers, too,” Hulett said.
Then he caught himself.
“Not that tonight’s weren’t good. But tonight we jumped on them early and got the momentum.”
Spokane starter Carlos Pimentel (1-0) kept Everett’s quiet, striking out five and giving up a solo home run to Luis Nunez.
For eight innings, that essentially was all the offense the AquaSox could muster. They scored their last two runs with Nate Tenbrink’s two-run homer in the top of the ninth.
“I hope we don’t have to score eight runs with 15 hits – although I’ll take that – every night,” Hulett said.
The game tied the five-game homestand between Spokane and Everett.
Notes
Indians pinch-hitter Zach Zeneski hit a stand-up double in his first pro at-bat. The catcher from the University of Rhode Island came to the Texas Rangers’ organization as a free agent this year. … Pimentel, who pitched five innings for the win, is the second-youngest pitcher in the Northwest League at 18. The youngest is also on the Indians’ roster: Martin Perez is 17.