Spokane loses to Boise in 11; remains winless in extra innings
Indians fail to solve problem
Despite improvements in nearly every department, there is still one basic thing eluding the Spokane Indians – the extra-inning victory.
Despite rallying from a six-run deficit, the Indians let another one slip away on Sunday evening as Daniel Vogelbach homered to right field with two outs in the 11th inning to give the Boise Hawks a 10-9 victory in Northwest League play in front of 4,093 fans at Avista Stadium.
The loss dropped Spokane to 0-6 in extra-inning games. The Indians are the only team in the league without a win in extras.
Still, manager Tim Hulett likes his chances.
“You’re going to win some and you’re going to lose some, so our odds keep going up every time we lose one in extra innings,” Hulett joked.
Boise took a 6-3 lead in the fourth, thanks in part to two early home runs from Lance Rymel, who was batting .135 heading into the game. The homers were his first of the season and marked the first time since 2006 the Hawks have had a player with multiple home runs in a game.
Trailing 9-4 in the sixth, Spokane’s Joe Maloney, who was later ejected for arguing a call with the home plate umpire, led off the seventh with a single and advanced to second when Barrett Serrato was walked.
With both Maloney and Serratto in scoring position after Brandon Garcia grounded out on a fielder’s choice, Gabriel Roa tripled in both.
After a pitching change, Patrick Cantwell singled to second, sending Roa home, and then rounded the bases on Cam Schiller’s single to right fielder Izaac Garsez, whose fielding error allowed Cantwell to score and Schiller to reach second.
Still with one out, Royce Bolinger singled to put runners on the corners for Rua. Schiller scored the tying run on Rua’s groundout before Preston Beck’s fly ball to left ended the inning.
In 12 games against the Hawks this season, Spokane finished 6-6.
“It was good to see our guys get back in this one and put something together,” Hulett said. “We were very competitive with Boise this season, although I say that when the truth is we did a good job of letting them get way ahead, and they did a good job of letting us get back in games, so they’re probably glad to see us go and we’re definitely glad to see them go.”