Indians’ Lanphere goes out in style
Spokane Indians starter Luke Lanphere was sharp in his final outing of the Northwest League regular season. Read story
The Indians are using a six-man rotation, so Lanphere had his final start Tuesday when the Indians won to stay remotely alive for postseason play with five games remaining.
Lanphere allowed four hits and two earned runs in six innings, finishing the league season with an earned-run average of 3.18. He pitched in 13 games for the Indians including 10 starts.
"He pitched well tonight," Indians manager Tim Hulett said. "I can only think of one outing that he didn't have a good start in. I mean, he's been really our most consistent starter, from beginning to end. He had a really good year this year."
Lanphere finished with a 3-1 record. He pitched well enough to win on Tuesday, opening the game with three no-hit innings, but he exited the game trailing 2-1.
The play that hurt him the most came in the sixth, with nobody out and Everett's Ryan Uhl aboard with a single. Erick Mejia bunted toward Lanphere, whose throw to first base was high on a play ruled an infield single. Lanphere may have had to lob the throw over Indians first baseman Diego Cedeno.
After Drew Jackson's sacrifice bunt moved the runners up, Jordan Cowan delivered a two-run single to break a scoreless tie.
"Lanphere got (to the bunt) and I think we get the out if he makes a good throw," Hulett said. "The thing is, he's usually a good fielder. He gets off the mound well, so maybe there was a case of guys interfering with each other a little bit."