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Spokane Indians

Cody Palmquist in groove but Indians falter in 11 innings

Spokane starter throws 75 strikes on just 97 pitches, fans 11

Spokane Indians starter Cody Palmquist was a strike machine on Friday. The relievers who followed him could have used a few pointers. The Tri-City Dust Devils patched together a two-run 11th inning with the aid of three walks, two wild pitches and a balk to topple Spokane 3-1 to end a three-game Northwest League series at Avista Stadium. Palmquist, who struck out 11 and threw 75 strikes on 97 pitches over seven innings, was long gone by the time Spokane’s bullpen faltered. “Palmquist was just amazing out there tonight,” Indians manager Tim Hulett said. “If you had to write it up in a storybook, that’s how you want your starter to go out there – throw strikes and get ahead of hitters. Unfortunately, our relievers didn’t take good note of what he was doing. “It wasn’t just strike one, but strike one, strike two. He was ahead of every hitter the entire night. I don’t think he threw one ball above the knees. They hit the one ball into the gap, but even that was down. He had a fantastic night.” Tri-City (16-13) pulled within one game of first-place Everett in the North Division. Spokane (14-15) is three games back with nine games left in the season’s first half. The Indians carried a 1-0 lead into the top of the ninth. Doug Votolato, who entered the night with a batting average of .135, led off the eighth with his second double of the season. LeDarious Clark singled him to third base and Dylan Moore brought him home with a groundout to second base. Spokane reliever Omarlin Lopez couldn’t hold the advantage, walking leadoff batter Mitch Morales and loading the bases with no outs. Lopez escaped with just Ty France’s sacrifice fly to center field, but that set up a second consecutive extra-inning game between the teams. “We had a young guy out there (Lopez) who hadn’t really been in that spot, to save the game,” Hulett said. “He’s had a couple of good holds. … That’s part of his development, is figuring out how to be in that situation and go right after that first hitter and not get behind him. That’s just part of it. He did a good job of only giving up the one run.” Jason Richman (0-2), Spokane’s fourth pitcher, retired the first two batters of the 11th before walking Peter Van Gansen. Hulett summoned John Kukuruda to get the final out, but the 2010 draftee fell apart with two walks, two wild pitches and a balk that brought in the go-ahead run. “Nobody really saw (the balk),” Hulett said. “I had looked away when it was called, so I couldn’t even go argue it. But it was a start and stop and (Kukuruda) didn’t seem to bark at it much, so he must have done something.” The Indians played before a packed house of 7,043. The Indians will play their next 11 games on the road, starting tonight at Boise. They’ll return to Avista on July 29 to start a five-game series with the Eugene Emeralds. The second half of the season will have started by then. After the Eugene series, Spokane will host the Aug. 4 All-Star Game between the NWL and Pioneer League.