Indians defeat Boise, remain in first-half title chase

BOISE – LeDarious Clark and Yeyson Yrizarri opened the game with back-to-back triples and the Spokane Indians never looked back en route to an 8-3 victory over the Boise Hawks in Northwest League play on Monday.

The win pulled the Indians (16-16) within two games of first-place Everett (18-14) with six games remaining in the first half of the season. Spokane trails Tri-City (17-15) by one game. The Indians play the Hawks two more times before traveling to Everett for a three-game series. Spokane plays Tri-City on the final day of the first half.

Dylan Moore singled home Yrizarri to give Spokane a 2-0 lead in the first and added a two-run double in the second to stretch the lead to 4-1.

Spokane broke the game open with a four-run fifth inning.

Moore led off with a walk, Jamie Potts singled and Tyler Sanchez walked to load the bases. Todd McDonald drew a one-out walk to force in the first run and Potts scored on a wild pitch by Boise’s Dylan Thompson. TiQuan Forbes plated the final two runs for an 8-2 lead with a two-out double.

Emerson Martinez (2-3) got the win for the Indians. He allowed two runs on four hits and a walk in six innings of work. He struck out five.

Adam Choplick gave up one run on three hits and three walks in three innings for his first save.