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Spokane Indians

Spokane Indians notebook: Offense struggles in split with last-place Hillsboro

Spokane Indians outfielder Jesus Bugarin swings at an outside pitch at Avista Stadium earlier this season. (Spokane Indians)
By Dave Nichols daven@spokesman.com(509) 459-5441

The Spokane Indians are in the midst of a team-wide offensive slump. Since the all-star break, they have scored just 40 runs in their last 15 games (2.67 per game).

They split last week’s home series with last-place Hillsboro despite scoring a total of just 16 runs in the six games – and seven of those came in Saturday’s game alone.

And it’s been a team-wide power outage: They hit just one home run and nine extra-base hits for the week.

The Indians really miss the production they received in the first half of the season from Jared Thomas, Charlie Condon and Braylen Wimmer – all of whom have been promoted to Double-A Hartford.

Thomas and Wimmer have continued in the Eastern League as they did in the Northwest League, hitting .333 and .318 respectively. After a hot start, Condon has endured a rough go at the plate over his last 11 games (7 for 42, .167) and has fallen to .228 overall with 29 strikeouts to nine walks at Hartford.

Playoff watch: The good news is that the Indians (19-17) remain in second place in the Northwest League second-half standings.

The bad news? They are eight games behind first-place Eugene (27-9), which shows no signs of slowing down in their second-half dominance. The Indians face Eugene on the road this week and finish the season there as well, so if they hold out any hope of catching the Emeralds and claiming a playoff berth they need to make up some significant ground this week.

Hot/not hitters: Since the offense struggled to score runs last week, the list of hot hitters is short. Only two players hit over .300 for the week: catcher Cole Messina (5 for 13, .385) and shortstop Andy Perez (8 for 23, .348). Outfielder Caleb Hobson hit the only home run, and he led all batters with five RBIs.

There were also plenty of cold bats, with eight players hitting below .240. Infielders Jean Perez and Tevin Tucker had the roughest weeks, going a combined 2 for 23 with one walk and no RBIs.

On the mound: There were no two-start pitchers last week. In fact, there were only three pitchers to make multiple appearances – Fidel Ulloa, Davison Palermo and Luke Taggert – and they made two appearances each.

Of the starters, Everett Catlett and Stu Flesland both turned in performances with no earned runs. The recently promoted Catlett went seven innings on Saturday and Flesland went six-plus on Sunday. Konner Eaton turned in another effective outing on Thursday, allowing two earned runs over six innings.

Transactions: Last week was busy for roster shuffling. Starting pitcher Lebarron Johnson Jr. and outfielder GJ Hill were both placed on the injured list.

Pitchers Griffin Herring and Josh Grosz, obtained from the New York Yankees organization in exchange for MLB third baseman Ryan McMahon, were added to the roster.

Pitcher Austin Becker and catcher Darius Perry were released.

This week: The Indians take on the Eugene Emeralds in a six-game road series. Game Tuesday through Friday are at 6:35 p.m., Saturday at 5:05 p.m. and Sunday at 1:05 p.m.