Indians’ offense takes night off in loss to AquaSox

In a game where it seemed that neither team’s offense seemed up to the challenge to score, the Everett AquaSox finally came to life in the seventh and eighth innings Wednesday night to beat the Spokane Indians 3-0.

The Indians scratched out six hits, but could not string them together. Former Washington State pitcher Joe Pistorese came on in relief and ended up getting his first professional win for the AquaSox in front of 3,811 fans at Avista Stadium.

“It’s huge,” Pistorese said of his win. “It’s exciting. It’s really fun for my entire family.”

With the loss, the Indians fell to 3-4 and have failed to register a single stolen base in seven games. On Wednesday, Spokane had four runners caught trying to steal second base.

“I was looking at that today. That stinks,” Indians manager Tim Hulett said of the lack of steals. “That’s why we ran so much. We are still working on getting good jumps.”

The failures on the base paths turned out to be inning killers on a night when the Indians hitters couldn’t find a way to push across runs.

“You also have to tip your hat to their catcher (Johan Quevedo),” Hulett said. “He threw it pretty well tonight.”

The lack of offense overshadowed five scoreless innings by Indians starter Luke Lanphere. He only gave up three hits and had four strikeouts.

“He did well. He commanded the zone,” Hulett said of Lanphere. “It was very encouraging. He gets mad at me when I take him out, which I like, too.”

The Indians loaded the bases in the bottom of the fourth inning, but third baseman Ti’Quan Forbes struck out on four pitches to end the threat.

“Forbes hacked at the first breaking ball,” Hulett said. “If you make a good swing on a pitch, that’s one thing. But when you get fooled, it’s not so good.”

Spokane also had scoring opportunities with two runners on base in both the eighth and ninth innings, but a double play and a ground-out killed both rallies.

The Indians have one more shot at Everett, which improved to 6-1 to lead the Northwest League North Division.

“That’s the great thing about baseball,” Hulett said. “It’s a new day every day. They are off to a good start. We at least want to get one off them while they are here.”