Spokane Indians Come from Behind to Beat Hillsboro Hops, 6-5
The Spokane Indians gave the Hillsboro Hops a taste of their own medicine, 6-5. The Indians came from four down in the ninth to send it into extra innings and held on for the win in the eleventh. The winning run started with a walk by Tyler Sanchez with two outs. Diego Cedeno followed with a grounder off the leg of umpire Derek Thomas leaving both runners safe on second and first. Ti’Quan Forbes walked on a full count to load the bases. Doug Votolato came to the plate and watched two runs score without swinging the bat. Catcher Jose Queliz let a passed ball dribble away from him allowing Sanchez to score and Cedeno move to third. Next pitch, Queliz allowed another passed ball reach the backstop. Cedeno came in from third in what proved to be the winning run.
Luis Parra (5-1) pitched the final 2.1 innings for the Indians to earn the win. Parra allowed one run on two hits with no walks and three strike outs.
For the Hops, Carlos Hernandez pitched seven innings allowing no runs and three hits with no walks and eight strikeouts. It was not enough for the win. Cody Greer (0-1) pitched the last two innings for the loss allowing two runs on one hit with two walks and three strike outs.
The scoring started with the Hops in the third. On a 1-2 pitch, Jeff Smith lined a single to center field. Jose Queliz looped a stand up double down the right side moving Smith to third. Alcantara continued his torrid hitting from last night with a sacrifice fly to left field. Smith came home to score the game’s first run.
In the fifth, the Hops added two more runs in what started to look like a repeat of last night’s 9-0 win by the Hops. After one out, Jeff Smith walked on five pitches to set the stage. Sergio Alcantara came to the plate and hit a long drive that went through the right center field gap and all the way to the fence for a triple. There was an error on the throw into the infield allowing Alcantara to score from third.
The Hops scored one run in the seventh to make it 4-0. With two outs, Sergio Alcantara sliced a grounder through the right side hole for a single. With Zach Nehrir at the plate, Alcantara stole second, beating the throw that bounced away from the play. Nehrir hit a blooping single into left field and Alcantara sped around the bases to score from second.
That set up the stage for the Indians to come from behind with four runs in the top of the ninth to tie the game and send it into extra innings. After Spokane made it 6-4, the Hops did score one more run to make it close when Zach Hoffpauir smashed a home run over the left field fence to bring the final score to 6-5.
Yayson Yrizarri went 3 for 5 for the Indians and scored a run. Diego Cedeno went 2 for 5 and scored a run. The star of the night was Tyler Sanchez who went 1 for 3 with two runs scored, three RBI and two walks.
Sergio Alcantara added to his hot streak for the Hops going 3 for 4, scoring two runs and earning two RBIs.
The Spokane Indians (13-12) stayed three games behind North Division leading Everett Aquasox. The Hillsboro Hops (14-11) stay tied with the Eugene Emeralds for the South Division lead.
Both teams will meet Monday night for the final game of the five game series. Hillsboro leads it 3-1.
By Greg Stoker
