Indians fall short
They could taste it.
Fans put on their rally caps. The Avista Stadium speakers boomed. The opposing pitcher was sweating. The Spokane Indians, trailing by two in the bottom of the ninth, weren’t ready to give up.
Struggling against the Tri-City Dust Devils’ pitching all night, the Indians found a way to load the bases with one out. They out-hustled infield dribblers and forced an error by closer Austin Chambliss.
And they almost did it.
Joey Butler boinked a hit over Chambliss and slid safely into first, scoring Jason Ogata from third. Then the pressure was on Doug Hogan, who with two outs grounded out to Tri-City shortstop Thomas Field, ending the game and securing a 2-1 victory for the Dust Devils.
“We didn’t hit any of those balls hard in the last inning, they all just found a place to get in,” Indians manager Tim Hulett said. “We almost got the last (run) the same way. It’s a great effort. Great effort. Great game, really.”
Zeroes lit up the scoreboard for eight innings as the pitchers dominated.
The Dust Devils (8-3) got their runs on three consecutive hits in the ninth. Brent Bowman smacked a leadoff single to right field, and Johnny Bowden did the same to put Bowman on third.
Bowman scored when Josh Banda pounded a double to the right-field wall, and Bowden scored on a wild pitch by Indians reliever Matt Nevarez (0-1).
However, in his third start for the Indians (7-4), Neil Ramirez sizzled for six innings as he struck out seven and allowed just one hit. The 19-year-old – a first-round draft pick last year – is starting to settle into things.
In his first pro start last week in the Indians’ season opener, Ramirez lasted just three innings and tallied four walks and four balks. On Sunday in Eugene, he allowed one earned run in five innings and landed his first win as the Indians beat the Emeralds 5-2.
On Friday, his fastball and curveball shut down the Dust Devils.
“I feel like tonight I got ahead of the batters – something I wasn’t doing the first start,” Ramirez said. “I’m a lot more comfortable now. I got those first-game jitters out of the way and I think I’m good to go from here.”
Then there was the other guy on the mound. Dust Devils starter Juan Nicasio, in five innings, struck out nine Indians. Until the fifth inning, the Spokane offense was three up, three down.
“Both starters had great command of the strike zone tonight,” Hulett said. “It’s tough to see here, early. And if you come out and just get after it and pound the zone, you can get through some innings pretty quick. And that’s what happened.
“(Ramirez) is going to be one of our solid starters,” Hulett said. “And we hope to keep getting outings like that from him. He’s gotta continue to do that. That’ll be a great step in his maturity.”
The game lasted just 2 ½ hours; 30 minutes of that was the ninth inning.
Notes
Jacob Kaase, who led the Northwest League with a .438 batting average, was promoted to the Texas Rangers’ high Single-A team, the Bakersfield Blaze. The Rangers released Donnie Ecker, who in his second pro season batted .286 in seven at-bats. Michael Ortiz was sent back down to Texas’ rookie team, the AZL Rangers in Arizona. New to the Indians are infielders Dennis Guinn and Mike Hollander, bringing the total number of players on the roster to 29. … Dust Devils starting catcher Adam Melhuse, 36, played in the major leagues for eight years but the Rangers released him in April after he broke a bone in his hand. Now he is in the Colorado Rockies organization and playing in short-season Single-A on rehab assignment. Melhuse went 0 for 1 Friday (he was hit by pitch in his first at-bat) and has gone 0 for 6 for the Dust Devils.