Persistence pays in Bears win

YAKIMA, Wash. — Astolfo Inciarte kept everyone on their toes.

He kept the fans alert by spraying a bunch of foul balls into the stands. He kept his teammates loose by slicing a pitch into the Yakima dugout.

And finally, on the 17th pitch of the at bat from Eugene’s Mauricio Tabachnik, with the score tied in the bottom of the eighth inning and the infield in, Inciarte bounced a single up the middle to score the go-ahead run in the Bears’ 6-3 defeat of the Emeralds.

An announced Yakima County Stadium gathering of 1,546 continued its celebration Wednesday night when Dan Kaczrowski doubled home the final two runs as the Bears won their third straight to eclipse the .500 mark for the season at 3-2.

“A quality at bat? I think that would qualify,” Yakima manager Bob Didier said of Inciarte’s work.

Answering another question rhetorically, he said, “Did we win three in a row last year? When you only win 28, you can’t have had many streaks like that.”

But then this is a different year and a different team. And Didier, in his 43rd season of professional baseball, has been given more options by his Arizona Diamondbacks superiors.

The D-backs’ minor league system is said to have put a heightened importance on winning games, and not just developing players, since the organizational shakeup earlier this year.

Hence Didier’s decision to pinch hit Inciarte for Gerson Montilla, who’d struck out in his three prior at bats.

It wouldn’t have mattered, though, had not Clayton Conner hit a three-run homer in the sixth, or had pitchers Will Harvil, Ben Dollar and Brad Wilson not combined for five innings of lights-out relief.

Eugene (1-4) totaled only four hits and got none after the third inning. Wilson, who didn’t allow a baserunner over the last two, got the win.

“Our pitching coach (Gil Heredia) did a great job, getting the right guys in the game at the right time,” Didier said. “But overall it was a very well-played game.”

Yakima, with only three hits through five innings, erased a 3-0 deficit quickly in the sixth.

Matt Davidson, 0-for-11 to start the season but 5 for 6 since, led off with a walk. Counting his earlier single and two subsequent free passes, Davidson has reached base in 11 of his last 12 trips to the plate.

Ryan Wheeler then dropped a bloop single in front of Emeralds center fielder Jason Codiroli and designated hitter Conner, on a 3-1 pitch, sliced an opposite-field, breeze-boosted drive over the wall in right-center near the 375-foot sign to tie it.

Eugene had taken advantage of control problems by Bears starter Brad Gemberling, scoring twice in the second inning with the help of two walks and a wild pitch.

The Ems added a third run in the third inning, off Ariel Brea, on Matt Vern’s two-out, RBI single.

Yakima’s decisive rally began when Tyrell Worthington struck out, but reached when the pitch eluded Eugene catcher Emmanuel Quiles. Pinch-hitter Roberto Rodriguez tried to bunt, but was out on a fouled third strike.

Tyson Van Winkle punched a single to right, however, and Worthington beat the throw to third to set up Inciarte’s heroics.

Kaczrowski was 2-for-5 and Conner and Van Winkle each was 2-for-3 as the Bears produced 10 hits for the second straight night.

“Inciarte’s hit was huge, obviously, because it gave us the lead” Didier said, “but the double was big, too. That three-spot gave us some breathing room going into the ninth.”

Filed under All, Pros, Yakima Bears/NWL