Indians ends season with victory
Boise’s win earlier Saturday eliminated Spokane’s postseason hopes and took some of the drama out of the Indians’ final regular-season game against Everett.
Spokane still managed to go out in style and produce a dramatic finish, escaping a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the ninth inning to turn back the AquaSox 4-2 in front of 6,349 Saturday night at Avista Stadium.
Spokane ended with 35-41 overall record, one game behind Boise, which wrapped up the Northwest League East Division’s second playoff berth with an 8-2 victory over Vancouver hours before the Indians arrived at the ballpark.
Spokane manager Tim Hulett monitored the Boise game on his computer.
“By the time I turned it on, it was top of the second and Boise was already leading 4-0 and I was like, ‘Oh man,’ ” Hulett said.
Spokane could have gone through the motions and it looked like that might be the case early when Everett scored a pair of unearned runs in the first inning. The Indians managed just one hit in the first five innings off AquaSox starter Joe DiRocco before warming up in the sixth.
They greeted DiRocco with three straight hits, including doubles by Edwin Garcia and Nick Vickerson, to trim Everett’s lead to 2-1. Kyle Hunter replaced DiRocco, but he was also victimized by a double, Yefry Castillo’s two-run shot to left-center that gave Spokane a 3-2 lead.
Castillo had two hits, giving him nine in the five-game series.
“He did a lot of good things,” Hulett said. “He really swung the bat well this week and we needed it.”
Indians relievers Alexander Claudio, featuring a nasty 60 mph change-up, and Greg Williams kept Everett off the scoreboard through the eighth inning. In the bottom of the eighth, Castillo singled and eventually scored on Ruben Sierra’s base hit.
Williams walked the first two batters in the ninth and Larry Gonzalez reached first when Spokane’s Drew Robinson mishandled a bunt down the third-base line.
Williams struck out Jarrett Burgess before Hulett summoned Jerad Eickhoff.
Eickhoff fanned Marcus Littlewood and Jorge Agudelo to preserve Spokane’s third win in the five-game set.
“Nick Martinez did a great job. He pitched out of a couple jams he shouldn’t have been in,” Hulett said of Spokane’s starter. “We didn’t finish it out easy. That is so characteristic of this team. Nothing was easy about it.”
An Everett win would have sent the AquaSox into the playoffs as the West Division second-half champion. Instead, Vancouver, last in the second-half standings, will take on Eugene on the basis of the second-best overall record. Boise faces Tri-City in the East Division playoffs.