Ryan Feltner masterful through seven, Spokane Indians win second in a row against Everett

New York Yankees starter Corey Kluber threw the big league’s sixth no-hitter of the season on Wednesday in Texas against the Rangers.

Much of the game in Spokane was spent on a no-hitter watch as well.

Indians starter Ryan Feltner went 5⅔ innings without allowing a hit or a walk and the Indians got just enough hitting to down the Everett AquaSox 5-3 in the second of a six-game High-A West series at Avista Stadium.

Most of the Indians’ offense came via Hunter Stovall, whose single through a drawn-in infield in the second inning plated two runs. Brenton Doyle added insurance with a two-run homer in the eighth, his second of the season.

Feltner wasn’t sure if he’d ever thrown a no-hitter in high school. 

“I don’t think I’ve ever had one, and I’d be lying if I told you that I wasn’t thinking about it,” he admitted. “Thoughts start to creep in like that but I’m just glad we could get a ‘W’ tonight.”

Feltner got two quick outs in the sixth but walked Kaden Polcovich on five pitches to bring up a third at-bat against Julio Rodriguez, the Seattle Mariners’ top prospect and the No. 3-rated prospect in baseball, according to MLB.com.

Feltner missed with his first three offerings, then Rodriguez lined the 3-0 pitch into right-center to put runners on the corners.

“In hindsight, probably should have flipped in a curveball to their best hitter,” Feltner said. “3-0, you know he’s gonna be aggressive, I was around the strike zone most of the night.” 

Feltner bounced back to get Austin Shenton to ground to second to end the potential rally.

Tyler Keenan led off the AquaSox seventh against Feltner with a hard-hit single off the wall in right, which got the bullpen up. Feltner got a groundout and his 10th strikeout of the game, but a walk to Conner Hoover brought the hook, and Feltner left to a standing ovation.

Lefty PJ Poulin entered and bounced out to short to end the threat.

“I was a little tired,” Feltner said of the seventh inning. “Towards the end, sixth inning, I felt pretty good. In the seventh I was a little tired, but I’m glad that we took it to that point, you know, just to build me up a little bit more so be easier next time.”

Feltner allowed two hits and two walks, all in the sixth and seventh. He threw 95 pitches, 63 for strikes.

“He was well within his pitch limit, nobody pushed him,” Indians manager Scott Little said. “He had a chance to finish it, and you know he just didn’t do it. I think it’s a great learning experience.”

“It felt really good tonight,” Feltner said. “I was really locked in and was on the same page with (catcher) Willie (MacIver), pitching coach (Ryan) Kibler, everybody was on the same page today on how I wanted to attack these guys. Just having a good game plan together was key tonight.”

Spokane got all the offense it needed in the second.

MacIver led off with a single and went to third on a line-drive single by Kyle Datres, who moved up a base on a wild throw back to the infield. With the infield playing in, Stovall bounced one up the middle and through and both runners scored.

“I’m not gonna second guess,” Little said of the strategy to play the infield in that early in the game. “I’m gonna appreciate the fact they did it and worked for us. But again, you know, that’s a different philosophy. You do your thing, I’ll do mine. Was I surprised? I don’t know. I’ve seen it before. Would I have done it, probably not.”

Feltner cruised. He picked up single strikeouts in the first and second, two more in the third and struck out the side in the fourth – the only base runner reaching on a error by shortstop Eddy Diaz.

Feltner got his eighth strikeout in the fifth. With two down, Hoover drilled one to center, but Brenton Doyle tracked it down with a running catch in the left-center alley.

“I didn’t know coming out of spring training just how good (Doyle) was in center, and he is just been a force,” Little said. “He runs like a deer.”

The Indians put two on with one down in the bottom half of the fifth on a pair of singles by AJ Lewis – his first hit of the season in 12 plate appearances – and Niko Decolati. After a fly out, Michael Toglia reached on a throwing error by the Everett shortstop and Lewis scored, but Decolati was caught in a rundown between third and home to end the inning.

Everett scored its first run on an RBI single by Patrick Frick in the ninth. The AquaSox loaded the bases with one out in the ninth against reliever Trysten Barlow, and Shelby Lackey got a pop-up for the second out. Cody Grosse lined a single to center to score two, but Johnny Cresto tracked down a deep fly to left to end it.

AquaSox starter Levi Stoudt (0-1), the Mariners’ No. 14 prospect, allowed three runs – two earned – on five hits and two walks with three strikeouts over 5⅓ innings.