Early lead not enough as Dust Devils fall to Indians 8-7
Four runs in the first inning wasn’t enough to start the road trip off right for the Tri-City Dust Devils on Wednesday night, as they fell to the Spokane Indians 8-7 at Avista Stadium to begin a three-game series.
The Dust Devils (16-12 second half, 36-30 overall) opened the week at home against the Indians, winning two out of three before the teams headed north. Heading into Thursday’s slate of games, Tri-City was tied with the first-half NWL North champion Vancouver Canadians at the top of the second-half standings, with Spokane (15-13, 31-35) trailing by a game.
Justin Lopez had an RBI single in the first inning and a solo homer to lead off the sixth, Jose Lezama had two hits and two RBIs, and Kelvin Melean reached base four times (2-for-3 with two walks) and scored twice to lead the Dust Devils’ attack.
Spokane rallied back with a three-run home run by Curtis Terry (10th of the season) to open its scoring in the second, and a three-run fourth highlighted by an Austin O’Banion solo shot to give the Indians’ a lead they would never relinquish.
Ten games remain in the NWL regular season, with Tri-City heading to Hillsboro for five games against the Hops after the Spokane series, then wrapping up the season with three games at Gesa Stadium against the Canadians, Sept. 1-3.
Indians 8, Dust Devils 7
Dust Devils | AB | R | H | BI | BB | SO | Avg |
Podorsky lf | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .303 |
J.Lopez 2b | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | .251 |
Melean 3b | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .240 |
Asuncion dh | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .273 |
a-F.Blanco ph-dh | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .167 |
Carter cf | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .227 |
Almanzar ss | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | .239 |
Mattison 1b | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | .214 |
Lezama c | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | .250 |
Burgos rf | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .245 |
Totals | 36 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 16 |
Spokane | AB | R | H | BI | BB | SO | Avg |
Aparicio cf | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .292 |
Seise ss | 5 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .200 |
Ratliff rf | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .247 |
Middleton c | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | .255 |
Whatley dh | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .259 |
O’Banion lf | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | .269 |
Terry 1b | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | .251 |
Enright 3b | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .233 |
Inoa 2b | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .217 |
Totals | 36 | 8 | 14 | 8 | 5 | 11 |
Dust Devils | 400 | 002 | 010 | – | 7 | 7 | 0 |
Spokane | 030 | 311 | 00x | – | 8 | 14 | 3 |
a-Grounded into a forceout for Asuncion in the 6th.
E–Enright (12). LOB–Dust Devils 10; Spokane 9. HR–J.Lopez (2) off Kuzia; Terry (10) off Stillman. RBIs–J.Lopez 2 (21); Asuncion (28); Lezama 2 (3); Terry 3 (26); O’Banion 2 (20); Aparicio (28); Seise (6); Middleton (17). SB–Podorsky (11) 2B. CS–Aparicio (8) hB. RISP–Dust Devils 5-for-17; Spokane 5-for-11. Runners left in scoring position–Burgos 2; Carter; Podorsky 2; Almanzar; Mattison; Enright; Whatley 2. GIDP–Whatley. DP–Dust Devils 1.
Dust Devils | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | ERA |
Stillman L,1-4 | 4 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 6.26 |
Erb | 1 1/3 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2.05 |
Miller | 1 2/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1.76 |
Munoz | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4.15 |
Spokane | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | ERA |
Bueno | 1/3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 5.29 |
A.Rodriguez | 2 2/3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 6.15 |
Speas W,1-6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 6.75 |
Kuzia H,3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 2.59 |
Advocate S,4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3.52 |
B–Speas. GS–Stillman 21; Bueno 23. HBP–Podorsky (Bueno). Pitches-strikes–Stillman 67-44; Erb 37-23; Miller 20-11; Munoz 24-13; Bueno 29-17; A.Rodriguez 53-33; Speas 48-24; Kuzia 44-36; Advocate 11-8. WP–Bueno; Speas; Kuzia. Inherited runners-scored–Miller 3-1; A.Rodriguez 3-2.
T–3:27. A–4,466.
This story was originally published August 24, 2017 at 5:36 PM with the headline "Early lead not enough as Dust Devils fall to Indians 8-7."