Monday, Aug. 10, 2009

Spokane cools off Tri-City bats

By Jack Millikin, Herald staff writer

PASCO — The lesson during a 3-0 loss to the Spokane Indians on Sunday at Gesa Stadium was simple.

You can't always believe what you read.

On paper, the Northwest League matchup of starting pitchers seemed lopsided at best.

The Dust Devils brought out top starter Dan Perkins, who ranked second among NWL starters with a 2.45 ERA in nine appearances to go with a 2-1 record.

His counterpart for Spokane would be Ben Henry, who came into the game 0-2 with an 8.51 ERA.

On the heels of Tri-City's 18-hit attack in a 9-2 win Saturday, it certainly seemed like the advantage rested with the Dust Devils' bats.

But Henry (1-2) spun a gem through five innings, allowing just three singles before being replaced by Justin King in the sixth. King and closer Reiner Bermudez combined for four scoreless innings to cap the win.

"I came in with an open mind, not worried about last night," said Henry, a 6-foot-4 right-hander drafted in 2007 out of Loris (S.C.) High School. "Last night I noticed they got a lot of opposite-field hits, so I wanted to work the lefties inside."

The Indians (22-27), who have won nine of their last 12 games, moved to within seven games of Tri-City (29-20) in the East Division standings. The Dust Devils still hold a commanding 6-2 lead in the seasonlong series and remain in control of their destiny as far as a division title.

Tri-City has won 12 of 14 games against East Division opponents.

"We can't get 18 hits every day," said Tri-City manager Fred Ocasio. "You have to give credit to their pitchers. (Henry) pitched down in the zone and got a lot of ground balls. That's what you have to do in this park."

Still, Jeremiah Sammy continued to swing a hot bat for the Dust Devils, collecting three of the team's seven hits. His sixth-inning opposite-field single to left extended a string of six straight at-bats with a hit. Sammy, an undrafted free agent out of Lamar University, is 12-for-23 (.521) in his last five games, raising his average to .306.

"We're still hitting the ball hard, we were just hitting it at people tonight," Sammy said. "Perkins did all right. They just got some timely hits."

Perkins (2-2) took the loss after giving up three runs on seven hits over 4 2/3 innings.

"Perkins has been our most consistent pitcher, but he didn't have command tonight," Ocasio said. "It was just one of those days."

Spokane got RBI doubles from Jason Ogata and Vincent DiFazio and picked up a sacrifice fly from Joe Bonadonna. But it was Ogata -- the 2005 Oregon State player of the year out of Westview HS in Portland -- who led the offense, going 3-for-3 with a hit-by-pitch.

Notes: Dust Devils 3B Joseph Sanders got a rest with a jammed left thumb and was replaced at third by Alex Feinberg. Ocasio said he should be back in the lineup today ... C/INF Chris Vasami returned to the Tri-City bench after a three-week rehab stint at his home in Mamaromeck, N.Y., with a broken left hand. Vasami appeared in just one game for Tri-City this season -- a 7-5 win over Boise on June 22 -- but was hit by a pitch in his only at bat.