Spokane storms back to edge Yakima in ninth

YAKIMA – The Spokane Indians avoided a statistical oddity Saturday night by rallying for four runs in the final two innings to defeat the Yakima Bears 6-5 at County Stadium.

If Yakima had held on, all four teams in the Northwest League’s East Division would have been tied for first place (and last) with 5-7 records.

Instead, the Indians are 6-6 and lead Boise and Tri-City (both 5-7) by one game and Yakima (4-8) by two.

Jonathan Higashi had three runs batted in for the Indians, including a run-scoring single in the ninth to score Wally Backman Jr. and break a 5-all tie.

Doug Mathis (1-1) pitched a 1-2-3 eighth for the win and Jon Wilson pitched a perfect ninth for his second save.

Spokane led 2-0 after Higashi’s one-out single to center field in the second scored Joe Kemp and Joey Hooft.

Bears starter Chris Kemlo then clamped down, retiring the final 13 batters he faced before leaving after seven.

Ramon Downing started Yakima’s comeback by hitting a one-out solo home run to right in the second, his second blast of the season.

The Bears took a 3-2 lead in the fifth off Indians starter Brett Zamzow. Manny Del Campo had an RBI double to left and Ricardo Sosa added a two-out, run-scoring double, also to left.

The lead grew to 5-2 in the sixth. Derek Bruce had an RBI single to score Downing, moved to third on Mike Biguenet’s double, and scored on a wild pitch.

The Indians knotted the game in the eighth off Kyler Newby. After Steve Murphy’s bases-loaded walk, Freddie Thon hit an RBI grounder to shortstop. On the double-play attempt to first base, second baseman Biguenet threw wildly to bring home the tying run.

Spokane scored the winner off 7-foot-1 Ryan Doherty (0-1) in the ninth.

Juan Carlos Garcia (0-1) is set to start for the Indians tonight.

The rubber game of the three-game series is tonight. Spokane begins a five-game home series against the Eugene Emeralds on Monday night at Avista Stadium.