Indians stage ninth-inning rally to beat Emeralds

EUGENE, Ore. – The Spokane Indians waited until they had just two outs left before rallying for a 2-1 victory over the Eugene Emeralds in Northwest League baseball action on Monday night.

The Indians trailed 1-0 with one out in the top of the ninth when Miguel Aparicio singled to center field off Eugene reliever Brian Glowicki. Chris Seise followed with a walk. Tyler Ratliff reached safely on a fielding error by Emeralds third baseman Jhonny Bethencourt to plate Aparicio and knot the score at 1. Matt Watley walked to load the bases and Clayton Middleton drove home Seise with a sacrifice fly to left field for the go-ahead run.

Spokane starter Tyler Phillips (2-2) was masterful on the mound. Phillips allowed just one run on four hits and a walk with eight strikeouts in eight innings of work. Cole Wiper came on in the bottom of the ninth and pitched a 1-2-3 inning with a pair of strikeouts to notch his first save of the season.

Eugene’s lone run off Phillps came in the bottom of the fourth when Brandon Hughes singled, stole second, moved to third on a flyout and scored on a groundout by Ramsey Romano.

The Indians improved to 10-9 in the second half and 26-31 overall.