Indians use same recipe to beat Hawks

The formula wasn’t much different than Monday.

Spokane picked up its second straight win over the Boise Hawks, again rallying out of an early deficit, again receiving a gritty start on the mound and quality work out of the bullpen, and Jason Ogata again delivering a multiple-RBI effort.

The Indians won 6-4 in front of 4,017 Tuesday at Avista Stadium, moving into sole possession of second place in the Northwest League’s East Division. Spokane (31-33) remains seven games behind Tri-City, which defeated Yakima.

Ogata, who knocked in three runs in a 14-5 win Monday, had three more RBIs, giving him seven in the first three games of the series.

“He’s been swinging the bat extremely well for a long time,” Indians manager Tim Hulett said of Ogata, who is hitting .390. “His average shows it.”

Boise (30-34) took an early 3-0 lead for the third consecutive game, but the Indians scored once in the second inning on Clark Murphy’s RBI single to center.

Spokane went on top with a three-run third. Zach Zaneski led off with a single and Kyle Rhoad reached when nobody covered first base on his bunt. Zaneski scored on an error and Ogata followed with a two-run double.

“We’re going to battle all nine innings,” Ogata said. “We never think we’re out of it with the lineup we have.”

Meanwhile, starter Ben Henry struggled early before blanking the Hawks over his final three innings. The Hawks had Henry on the ropes in the first, loading the bases twice but they managed just one run, partly because right fielder Miguel Velazquez threw out Logan Watkins at home as he tried to score from second on Bobby Wagner’s single.

“That play really limited the damage,” Hulett said. “Henry settled in and pitched a good five innings. It did remind me (of Monday’s starter Braden Tullis). They struggled at first, but gave us some good innings and that’s important because it really saves the pen for the next night.”

Spokane scored a run in the fifth without a hit. Rhoad and Edward Martinez walked and Rhoad stole third base. He raced home on Ogata’s nubber in front of home, hiking Spokane’s lead to 5-3.

Jose Guevara’s eighth-inning double brought in Jae-Hoon Ha, pulling Boise within 5-4, but reliever Reiner Bermudez struck out George Matheus with a 92 mph fastball to end the threat.

The Indians got the run back in the bottom of the eighth. Boise nearly escaped a first-and-third, one-out jam when Matheus made a diving stop on Zaneski’s sharp grounder up the middle. Matheus flipped the ball to shortstop Hak-Ju Lee to get a force at second, but Lee’s relay throw to first was off line, allowing Tommy Mendonca to score.

Bermudez had two more strikeouts and picked off Jose Valdez after issuing a one-out walk in the ninth.

“He’s a guy that throws 95, 96, but usually he doesn’t have that good of command when he’s throwing that hard,” Hulett said. “We’ve convinced him to back off a little bit and do a little more pitching. He’s been a nice guy to have in there at the end of the game.”

Notes

Rhoad went 2 for 3, scored twice and swiped his team-leading 14th base. … Indians relievers have pitched 11 innings and yielded just two runs in the first three games against Boise. … Spokane followed up 18 hits on Monday with 10 hits. … Boise’s Greg Rohan had two doubles for the second straight night.