Thompson stellar in Indians’ victory

BOISE – Matt Thompson tossed six shutout innings and the Spokane Indians put crooked numbers on the scoreboard in a couple of innings to breeze to a 6-1 victory over the Boise Hawks in Northwest League action on Tuesday night.

The victory broke a tie for second place in the East Division between Spokane (27-30) and Boise (26-31). The Indians pulled to within 61/2 games of the front-running Tri-City Dust Devils, who lost 2-1 at Vancouver.

Thompson (3-3) allowed just five hits – all singles – to earn the victory. He struck out four and didn’t walk a batter.

The Indians took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third inning. Denny Duron singled, stole second, moved to third on a Joe Bonadonna single and scored on a groundout by Miguel Velazquez.

The Indians took a comfortable lead in the top of the fifth by scoring three times after two outs and nobody on base. Kyle Rhoad doubled to start the rally and took third on a wild pitch. Bonadonna singled Rhoad home and moved to third on a single by Velazquez. Jason Ogata followed with a two-run double to put Spokane up 4-0.

Boise scored its lone run of the game – a Derrick Fitzgerald home run in the bottom of the seventh – against Indians reliever Joseph Ortiz. It was the only hit off Ortiz in two innings of work. He struck out three.

Spokane pushed across its final two runs of the game in the top of the eighth. Tommy Mendonca led off with a single. Aja Barto singled with one out to put runners on first and second. Zach Zaneski singled to drive in Mendonca. Barto stole third and scored on a single by Duron.

Sam Brown pitched the ninth – allowing one hit with two strikeouts – to finish off the win for the Indians.

The two teams play the rubber game of the three-game series tonight, before the Indians head to Pasco for a three-game series against the Tri-City Dust Devils.