Indians fall apart during eighth inning

YAKIMA – The Spokane Indians were six outs away from a road sweep when disaster struck Friday night.

The Yakima Bears erupted for eight runs in the eighth inning to defeat the Indians 9-4 in Northwest League baseball play at County Stadium.

Spokane (5-9) won the series 2-1 but missed a chance to tie the Bears (7-7) for second place in the East Division.

The Bears roared back against Kevin Castner (0-1), who entered in the eighth with Spokane leading 4-1. Castner faced five batters, allowing singles to the first three – Daniel Kaczrowski, Brent Greer and Ryan Wheeler – then walking Matthew Davidson and Clayton Conner before Indians manager Tim Hulett had seen enough.

Castner’s replacement, Samuel Brown, also struggled despite striking out three batters. Brown allowed two hits, walked one and gave up three earned runs.

Jorge Corniel had a two-run single during the uprising. He scored when Kaczrowski came up for the second time in the inning and doubled.

The relief effort wiped away a solid showing by Spokane starter Trevor Hurley, who struck out six and allowed one hit in four innings.

Tommy Mendonca got Spokane off to a 1-0 start with a two-out homer to right field in the first.

Washington State University product Jared Prince scored in the fourth to extend the lead to 2-0. Prince was hit by a pitch, moved to third on Clark Murphy’s single and scored on a double play.

After Davidson’s RBI single in the sixth cut the Indians’ edge to 2-1, Alberto Puello had a two-out, two-run double for Spokane in the eighth.