Cole Ragans delivers another stellar outing as Indians win 2-1

Indians starting pitcher and No. 8 Rangers prospect Cole Ragans threw a gem against the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes with six shutout innings and eight strikeouts to lead the Spokane Indians to a 2-1 win in Monday night’s Northwest League action at Avista Stadium.

In addition to his six shutout innings and eight strikeouts, Ragans allowed five hits and walked none. He extended his scoreless inning streak to nine innings dating back to his last start on July 10th against the Boise Hawks.

“I tell all of the pitchers to not over analyze the situation, just go out there and pitch. Trust what Ragans has and utilize it. Cole is very mature and meticulous about how he pitches and I think it shows,” Indians pitching coach Joseph Seaver said.

Cristian Inoa extended his hit streak to 11 games as he provided Spokane’s first run with a leadoff home run in the second inning.

Spokane (13-19) increased its lead to 2-0 on Austin O’Banion’s RBI single which drove in Matt Whatley in the seventh inning.

Reliever Joe Barlow took over for Ragans in the seventh inning and threw 2 ⅔ innings while he allowed four hits, one run, walked none and struck out three.

For Salem-Keizer (14-18), Kevin Rivera hit an opposite field RBI single with two outs in the ninth inning against Barlow to cut the the Spokane lead to 2-1.

Spokane relief pitcher Josh Advocate came in for Barlow to record the final out and secure the victory for the 3,885 fans (and 74 dogs for “Bark in the Park” night) in attendance.

The two teams return to Avista Stadium for the fourth game of a five-game series on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.