Darius Day wins it for Spokane Indians in 12th

Darius Day claimed he’d never had a walk-off hit at any level.

Maybe it’s appropriate that Day had the winning hit on an evening in which the Spokane Indians and Vancouver Canadians couldn’t seize their multiple opportunities.

Day’s one-out RBI single to left field in the 12th inning Saturday gave the Indians a 3-2 victory over Vancouver at Avista Stadium, one night after the teams played a combined 17 innings in a doubleheader.

Yeyson Yrizarri, who had been in a 0-for-23 slump, doubled to left field with one out in the 12th against fourth Canadians pitcher Bob Wheatley (1-2). Wheatley fell behind Dean Long 3-1 before issuing an intentional walk, setting the stage for Day.

Day, Spokane’s leadoff hitter, jumped on the first pitch and hit a liner that eluded left fielder Rolando Segovia.

“All of the left-handers I’ve faced so far this series have been throwing me a lot of breaking balls, so I knew right away that the first pitch was probably going to be a breaking ball,” Day said. “I knew if I saw if up and put a good swing on it I’d have a pretty good chance of hitting it hard. That’s exactly what happened.

“I knew I hit it hard right away, but I knew that the left fielder was playing me up so … it was just rather or not it had a chance to get it by him.”

Spokane (13-18 Northwest League second half) leads the series 2-1 with the finale this afternoon. Vancouver (14-17) leads the season series 6-5.

The Indians grounded into four double plays during the first six innings.

“Every time it seemed like we got the first guy on, we hit right into a double play, just to kill any kind of opportunities,” Indians manager Tim Hulett said.

Spokane catcher Sherman Lacrus killed Vancouver scoring chances by throwing out runners at second base four times in the first seven innings.

Spokane had two runners thrown out at home plate. In the third, Day attempted to score from first on LeDarious Clark’s double. In the fifth, Clark attempted to score after doubling home Long and Day to tie the score at 2.

The Indians had Clark at third base and Dylan Moore at second with no outs in the eighth but failed to score. Vancouver had the bases loaded with one out in the ninth, but third baseman Ti’Quan Forbes started a 5-3 double play.

Indians relievers Seth Lintz, Luis Parra and Tyler Davis (2-1) combined to throw seven innings of three-hit shutout ball.

Notes

Indians left-hander Jeffrey Springs (2-2, 2.93) was promoted to Class A Hickory (North Carolina). Right-hander Jacob Shortslef, a 26th-round choice in June’s draft, joined the Indians from the Arizona Rookie League, where he was 3-2 with a 1.54 ERA.