Late lapse sinks Bears

Spokane sneaks past Yakima ||

YAKIMA, Wash. — You win a few, you lose a few and sometimes, for lack of a more delicate way to put it, you just drop the ball.

There was more to the Bears’ late-game meltdown Wednesday night, one that culminated in a 7-4 loss to Spokane, than one such play. But a dropped ball on a routine play seemed to typify Yakima’s loss of a two-run, eighth-inning lead, to the dismay of an announced crowd of 1,713 at Yakima County Stadium and the visible disgust of manager Bob Didier.

“We played real well for seven innings,” Didier said, “but that was a tough loss. These young guys are learning, and one of the things they’re learning is you’ve got to get 27 outs.”

Or four more than the Bears had, with two out in the top of the eighth and the game seemingly in hand.

But a triple, wild pitch, walk and another triple erased Yakima’s 4-2 lead, and were followed by an even more unsightly and damaging ninth.

After a leadoff single by recent Texas Rangers signee Tommy Mendonca, the former Fresno State Bulldog’s first professional hit, Bears reliever Pedro Rodriguez got the next two hitters on a grounder to shortstop (Mendonca was running on the pitch and avoided a force at second) and a foul pop to first baseman Ryan Wheeler.

Edward Martinez, the Indians’ No. 9 hitter, hit a slow dribbler to the left of the mound that Rodriguez fielded and threw fairly accurately to first for what should have been an inning-ending out.

The ball came off Wheeler’s glove, however, for an error that allowed Mendonca to score and Martinez to reach second.

Following were three successive singles, the last two coming after Hernandez was replaced by Will Harvil. The first two, by Cody Podraza and Miguel Alfonso, drove in runs.

“You have a routine play,” Didier said, his team having lost four of five after last week’s five-game winning streak, “where our pitcher throws to first and the ball moves a little bit. The ball comes off our first baseman’s glove and three runs later the inning’s over.”

So was the game, essentially, since Yakima (6-6) managed only one baserunner, via a walk, in the bottom of the ninth.

“We had good things happen tonight,” Didier said. “Taveras (Ricardo) pitched well and that was his third good start in a row for us. Conner (Clayton, with a homer and single) is swinging the bat well, and Matt Davidson had a big hit.

“But the other night (Monday in Boise) we take a 2-0 lead in the top of the 10th inning and then lose 3-2. You have to finish games.”

Spokane (4-8) led 2-1 going into the bottom of the seventh. The Indians scored once in the first on a leadoff double, wild pitch and Vincent DiFazio’s sacrifice fly, and once in the fifth via successive singles that put runners at first and third to set up Martinez’s RBI groundout to third.

The Bears’ lone run came in the fourth on Conner’s second homer in as many nights and third of the year.

Conner had lined a previous pitch wide of the left-field foul before slicing an opposite field shot that cleared the right-field wall, according to base umpire Brett Terry. Spokane manager Tim Hulett and several of his players disagreed.

In the seventh, Yakima tied it on three walks and a wild pitch, then took a 4-2 lead when Davidson chopped a two-run single over the third baseman’s head.

Clayton Suss, who relieved Taveras to start the seventh, appeared to be in command with two out in the eighth, having fanned four of the five hitters he’d faced.

But Miguel Alfonso, No. 2 in Spokane’s lineup, tripled off the wall in left-center and was wild-pitched home. Suss then walked DiFazio’s and pinch-runner Kyle Rhoad moved to second on a wild pitch by Rodriguez, who’d been summoned to replace Suss.

But the Indians then scored the tying run on another three-bagger, this a towering shot off the base of the left-center field wall by Aja Barto.

The Bears threatened in the eighth when Brent Greer was hit by a pitch, took second on Roberto Rodriguez’s single to shallow right and both runners moved up on a wild pitch.

But leadoff hitter Dan Kaczrowski, went down swinging against a Reiner Bermudez fastball to end the inning.