Indians light up Hawks before sellout crowd at Avista

Dean Long, Ledarious Clark and Diego Cedeno had the big hits for the Spokane Indians on Saturday night, but Dylan Moore played the role of fly in the ointment.

Moore’s RBI on a fielder’s choice in the bottom of the ninth inning completed a huge comeback as the Indians (9-8) topped the Boise Hawks 8-7 to open a five-game Northwest League series at sold-out Avista Stadium.

Moore’s bases-loaded, one-out grounder froze shortstop Carlos Herrera just long enough for the Hawks to have to settle for a forceout at second base with no chance at a double play. Pinch-runner Darius Day scored from third base, completing a rally that began with Spokane trailing 6-0 in the bottom of the seventh.

“When I saw (the ball) on the ground and I saw (Herrera) field it, I put my head down and ran,” Moore said. “I asked them later what happened. I was just glad that I could do something to help the team. I was just glad we could get the job done on the Fourth of July.”

“Moore’s really been a great player,” Indians manager Tim Hulett said. “He’s really shown what kind of player he is. He has great feet, great hands. He’s really swinging the bat. Every phase of the game, he brings energy to the game every day.”

Moore also played key roles in the seventh and eighth, leading off the six-run seventh with a double to left field – Spokane’s second hit of the day – and scoring in the eighth for a short-lived 7-6 lead after taking a pitch to his left knee while also leading off.

Despite taking the hard shot to the knee on a pitch by Logan Cozart, Moore stole second base and took third on a passed ball. Cedeno’s second RBI single of the game brought him home.

“Right now, (the knee) feels fine,” Moore said. “I’m sure it will hurt tomorrow morning. That one stung a little bit. (Hulett) did tell me that if I got on first base that we were going to hit-and-run, so I knew I had to be ready for it.”

“He got whacked in the knee pretty good there, but we’d already predetermined that if he got on, we were going to have to hit-and-run, so he was just going to have to gut it out,” Hulett said. “And sure enough, he did.”

The Hawks (6-11) tied the game at 7 in the top of the ninth when Luis Castro collected his third RBI of the game on a sacrifice fly to deep right.

Four Indians errors helped Boise to its 6-0 lead. Indians starter Cody Palmquist pitched well, but two errors opened the floodgates for the Hawks’ four-run fifth that started with two outs.

“Cody had to throw 30 extra pitches under duress because we couldn’t make a play,” Hulett said. “The errors forced him to pitch with guys in scoring position, to make pitches. He did a good job of just hanging in there.”

Long’s two-out, bases-clearing triple in the seventh cut Boise’s lead to 6-4. Clark followed with a long homer to left field for a 6-all tie, extending his hitting streak to 15 games.

The announced crowd was 7,031, ruled standing-room-only.

Indians right-hander Dillon Tate, the Texas Rangers’ first-round selection last month out of UC Santa Barbara, was the scheduled starter but didn’t play because of shoulder soreness.