Indians dust off Devils again
Five back after another victory over Tri-City
PASCO – So far, the Spokane Indians have made the most of their opportunity in their final series with the Tri-City Dust Devils.
The Indians took a 7-4 Northwest League baseball victory Friday night to close within five games of the East Division-leading Devils. The Indians have taken the first two games of the series that concludes tonight.
The Indians have won five of their last six games against the Devils after losing the first five to Tri-City.
Spokane scored in five innings with a two-run fifth proving to be the difference, despite having a runner thrown out at the plate.
Jason Ogata was hit by a pitch and went to third in Jared Prince’s one-out single. Zach Zaneski reached on an error with Ogata scoring. With Clark Murphy at the plate, Prince was thrown out at home on the back end of an attempted double steal. Zaneski ended up at second and scored on Denny Duron’s single to center field for a 5-2 advantage.
Murphy’s second home run of the year in the fourth gave the Indians a 3-2 lead.
The Indians, who had 12 hits, scored once in the first inning on Miguel Velazquez’s ground out after Kyle Rhoad and Daniel Lima led off with singles. They added a run in the third when Lima reached on an error, went to third on an errant pickoff throw and came home on Ogata’s line single to left field. Ogata is hitting .408.
Tri-City got back within a run, 5-4, in the eighth inning, scoring twice on three singles, an error and a wild pitch.
But the Indians recovered with two runs in the ninth on Tommy Mendonca’s eighth homer of the year and Murphy’s RBI double.
Starting pitcher Trevor Hurley (5-2) picked up the victory, giving up one earned run on six hits and three walks while striking out two over five innings.
Reinier Bermudez collected his second save.