Indians Walk off with Win in Tight Opening Night Battle
Published on June 19, 2015 under Northwest League (NWL1)
Hillsboro Hops News Release
It was not the prettiest opening night win, but after losing 15 of 20 to the Hillsboro Hops the last two years, the Spokane Indians will take it.
The Tribe broke a 5-5 tie with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning as Dylan Moore ended the game with a base hit to left field, scoring Ti'Quan Forbes with the game-winning run in a 6-5 victory over Hillsboro in front of 6,458 fans on opening night at Avista Stadium.
Lefthander Luis Parra pitched two perfect innings of relief, striking out two to earn the win. Forbes, one of a number of teenage infielders making their short-season A debuts for both teams, walked with one out against Hillsboro reliever Kevin Simmons (0-1) and scored his second run of the game.
Spokane outhit Hillsboro 12-6, but three early errors led to four Hops runs as Hillsboro answered the Indians two-run first and second innings with a pair of runs in the second and third.
The Hops never led, but had an answer each time Spokane scored. With the game tied 4-4 In the sixth, Spokane's Doug Votolato reached on a leadoff bunt base hit and advanced to second on an errant throw by Hops' catcher Nate Irving. Jamie Potts followed with a base hit, putting runners at the corners with none out. Hillsboro put in its first call to the bullpen of the season and right hander Myles Smith fanned his first batter, but not before a wild pitch to Darius Day brought Votolato home with the go-ahead run. After a hit batter and dropped third strike loaded the bases, Smith retired clean-up hitter Sherman Lacrus on a fly out to right.
Trailing for the third time in the game, the Hops evened the score in the top of the seventh as highly-regarded 18-year old shortstop Sergio Alcantara drew a leadoff walk, advanced to second on a Raymel Flores bunt, charged to third on a ground out to short and scored on Zach Nehrir's base hit up the middle. Alcantara has drawn praise from Diamondbacks' scouts not only for his glove and strong arm at short, but a plate discipline that saw the Dominican teen lead the Pioneer League Missoula Osprey with 48 bases on balls in 2014.
Nehrir would be the last Hop to reach base as Spokane's Peter Fairbanks fanned Luis Veras to close the 7th and Parra retired all six batters he faced in the eighth and ninth, setting up Moore's ninth inning heroics.
Forbes scored the winning run after drawing a one-out walk and moving to second on Sherman Lacrus' base hit. With two outs, Moore rifled a shot to left field. Nehrir came up firing and nearly nailed Forbes on what would have taken a near-perfect throw as the Indians' 18-year-old third baseman slid to the back of the plate to avoid the Irving tag, setting off a mob scene around Moore near second base.
Lacrus had three hits in five at bats, including an RBI single in the first inning, when the Indians turned two off-the-plate choppers and two bloops to right field into two runs. Hops' starting pitcher Tyler Bolton allowed ten hits and five runs, four earned in five innings, but very few hard hit balls. He struck out two and walked only one batter, although that batter came around to score in the second inning when Ledarious Clark drew a free pass and scored all the way from first on an errant throw from center field after Yeyson Yrizarri's RBI single.
For the Hops, Nehrir had the most impressive debut, blasting an RBI double into the left field corner in the third inning to go along with his game-tying hit in the seventh. The 16th-round draft pick from Houston Baptist also made a superb running catch near the left field foul pole to close the third inning. Nate Robertson, one of five returning players from last season's NWL championship team, debuted with hits in his first two at bats, scoring a run in the second and driving in a run with a double in the third.
Robertson scored on the strangest play of the night, as Hops third baseman Fernery Ozuna lifted a fly ball to center that Day appeared to lose in the sun after a long, winding, twisting route back from his shallow position. Day could not hold on after a diving attempt at a catch after turning around 360 degrees as Ozuna raced all the way around the bases to score behind Robertson. The play was ruled a four-base error on Day.
Game two of the series starts at 6:30 p.m. Friday night. The Hops will send 6-7 left handed pitcher Jared Miller to the hill, while Spokane will counter with 20-year-old right hander Emerson Martinez. Tune in for live coverage on Rip City Radio 620 AM starting at 6:00 p.m.
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