Indians lose again

With the tying run on third base in the ninth inning, the Spokane Indians couldn’t pull off a late-inning victory.

The Indians fell to the Boise Hawks 5-4 in the second game of the three-game series on Wednesday night in Northwest League baseball play in front of 3,704 fans at Avista Stadium.

Spokane leadoff hitter Craig Gentry singled off Boise reliever Jeremy Papelbon in the ninth inning with one out and Chad Tracy sent Gentry to third with a two-out single off reliever Michael Cooper. But Cooper earned his seventh save of the season by inducing a groundout from Steve Marquardt to end the game.

Boise grabbed the lead in the third inning and slowly pulled away, scoring all five runs in a four-inning span. Four runs were scored against Indians starter Michael Wagner and one against reliever Austin Weilep.

Wagner tallied six strikeouts, giving him a total of 41 for the season, placing him in the top three of the NWL.

“I threw a lot of fastballs, but I didn’t have a good enough mix to get the win,” Wagner said. “Taking another loss hurts. I wish the balls had been hit a little harder to make a play.”

Fastballs were what Boise’s Steven Clevenger took advantage of going 3 for 4 with two RBIs against Wagner and Weilep.

“(Yesterday) I hit the ball good and hard and it carried over to today,” Clevenger said.

Spokane lacked production from its No. 2 and No. 3 batters, Tracy and Billy Killian. Both batters racked up two strikeouts each and Tracy’s ninth-inning single gave him his first base hit in four at-bats, while Killian went 0 for 5. The Indians struck out 13 times, compared to Boise’s seven. Chris Davis accounted for a fourth of Spokane’s hits, going 3 for 4 with a pair of RBIs.

“It comes and goes,” Spokane manager Mike Micucci said. “They’re not going to get hits every night. It was tough with all the (left handed pitchers).”

Spokane mounted a comeback after Jayson Ruhlman replaced Boise starter Mark Pawelek in the sixth inning.

Nick Cadena ripped a two-out triple to right-center field and scored on Davis’ fifth double in two nights. Jay Heafner followed with an RBI single to drive in Davis, who also Spokane’s first and only run off Pawelek in the fourth inning.

Spokane added a run in the bottom of the seventh off Papelbon when Killian, who reached base on a forceout, scored on a two-out single by Marquardt.

Gentry finished the night 2 for 4 with a stolen base for the Indians.

The final game of the series against the Hawks is today at 6:30 p.m. at Avista Stadium.