Monday, Aug. 04, 2008

Spokane walks to win over Dust Devils

By Jack Millikin, Herald staff writer

A walk in the park is usually considered a good thing.

But sometimes it all depends on who is walking in whose park.

Four Tri-City Dust Devils pitchers combined to walk 10 batters and hit two more, leading to seven Spokane runs, as the Indians slowly and painfully erased a 4-0 deficit for a 10-5 win Sunday at Gesa Stadium.

The loss dropped Tri-City (22-24) 12 games behind Spokane in the East Division and six games behind second-place Boise (29-17).

The Dust Devils got off to one of their best starts of the year, scoring three runs in the first off Spokane starter Neil Ramirez.

Thomas Field led off the game by lining a 2-1 pitch from Ramirez over the left-field wall for a 1-0 lead.

Johnny Bowden and Scott Robinson followed with RBI singles to make it 3-0.

Tri-City padded that lead in the third on an RBI groundout by Leonardo Reyes, which gave the Dust Devils a 4-0 lead.

"I thought the game started pretty good. We scored the first four runs of the game and then gave up the next 10," said Tri-City manager Fred Ocasio. "We just gave up too many walks. We got away with it early on by turning some double plays. But on offense it kept us from swinging the bats. Guys are just standing in the field too long."

Field connected off Spokane reliever Justin Miller for another home run to lead off the ninth inning to cut the Indians' lead to 10-5, but the Dust Devils couldn't build on it. He became the first Tri-City player to hit two home runs in a game since Victor Ferrante did it in a 14-6 win over Spokane on July 25, 2006.

"(The first) was obviously a momentum builder," said Field, who is tied with Austin Rauch for the team lead with four homers. "It feels good from an individual standpoint, but you want to do well as a team. You just can't make a lot of mistakes."

Spokane came charging back with three runs in the fourth off starter Brad McAtee and three more in the fifth off Brandon Miller (1-3). McAtee walked the first two batters to lead off the fourth and then, after a single by Eric Fry, issued a bases loaded walk to Matt West for the Indians' first run.

Dennis Guinn then hit in to a double play as a run scored, and Zach Zaneski followed with an RBI single to cut Tri-City's lead to 4-3.

Miller relieved McAtee in the fourth, but loaded the bases with no outs in the fifth. He walked Joey Butler to tie the score at 4 and then allowed a two-run single to Fry to make it 6-4.

Matt Nevarez (4-1) relieved Ramirez after just one inning and allowed one run on two hits in four innings.

Tri-City left 10 runners on base, including Bowden and Robinson, who each hit leadoff triples only to be stranded at third. Bowden's triple came in the fifth inning, and his run could have cut Spokane's lead to 6-5.

"That was frustrating," Ocasio said. "Maybe that's where the game changed a little bit."

NOTES: McAtee allowed a season-high six walks and has allowed at least four free passes in each of his last five starts. He is tied with Houston Summers of Yakima for third in the league with 29 walks. ... Patrick Rose hit in his sixth straight game and added his eighth stolen base, but he also committed his team-high 15th error, bobbling an eighth-inning grounder at third to load the bases. ... Attendance was announced at 2,172 as the Dust Devils continued a record-setting pace. Tri-City has drawn 50,486 fans through 22 games for an average of 2,295. The franchise record was set in 2007, when the team drew 75,308 fans for an average of 1,982.