Ronaiker Palma knocks in a pair, Spokane Indians down Hillsboro in series opener
There are a lot of ways to score runs in a baseball game. On Tuesday, the Spokane Indians took advantage of a lot of them – except via a base-hit RBI.
Ronaiker Palma knocked in two runs – despite going 0 for 3 – and the Spokane Indians beat the Hillsboro Hops 7-2 in the opener of a six-game High-A Northwest League series at Avista Stadium on Tuesday.
The Indians (16-21) went 2 for 20 with runners in scoring position and left 14 stranded. The Hops fell to 15-22.
The teams combined to throw 13 walks with four hit batters, three wild pitches and a balk. The first inning alone took nearly an hour to play, and the time of game was 3 hours, 6 minutes.
Wildred Patino led off the game against Indians starter Cullen Kafka with a double off the wall in left center, went to third on a single by Tommy Troy and scored on a groundout by David Martin. Kafka gave up walks to Christian Cerda and Andrew Pintar to load the bases but got Kevin Graham to bounce out to end the inning.
The Indians loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom half against Hillsboro starter Dylan Ray on two infield hits and a walk. Nic Kent and Ronaiker Palma drew a full-count walks to force in runs and Hillsboro went to the bullpen.
Spokane loaded the bases in the second on two hit batters and a bloop single. Reliever Listher Sosa hit his third batter of the inning, Ryan Ritter, to force in a run, then a wild pitch allowed Benny Montgomery to race home to make it 4-1.
Hillsboro’s David Martin hit a long homer to right in the third, his second in High-A since a mid-July promotion, to draw the Hops within two.
It stayed that way until the bottom of the sixth. Braiden Ward beat out an infield hit, went to second on a balk, stole third and scored on a wild pitch to make it 5-2. The Indians loaded the bases on three straight walks but Jamari Baylor and Palma struck out.
Ben Sems led off the seventh with a single and Ward slapped a double into the left-field corner with one down. Montgomery lined one back to pitcher Zach Barnes, who threw to home to nab Sems, and Juan Guerrero bounced out to first to end the inning.
Spokane added a pair of insurance runs in the eighth inning with the only hit a leadoff double by Ritter.
Reliever Evan Shawver (2-3) got the win with three scoreless innings. He gave up a hit and three walks and struck out five.
Moves: Infielder Sterlin Thompson and right-handed pitcher Juan Mejia were promoted to AA-Hartford. In 60 games with Spokane, Thompson hit .323/.399/.520 with seven home runs, 39 RBIs and 14 stolen bases over 263 plate appearances. Mejia went 2-2 with one save and a 4.81 ERA over 43 innings in 35 appearances.
Left-handed pitcher Mason Albright and infielder Parker Kelly were added to the roster from Low-A Fresno.
Albright was acquired by the Colorado Rockies in the trade that sent MLB veterans C.J. Cron and Randall Grichuk to the Los Angeles Angels on July 30. He went 9-4 with a 3.62 ERA for Low-A Inland Empire and won his only start with five shutout innings for Fresno last week. In 78 games with Fresno, Kelly hit .235 with three home runs.