Late rally helps Bears salvage series finale

Good things came to those who waited — and waited, and waited — Friday night at Yakima County Stadium.

That means the Bears, who might have welcomed some average things given their recent past, plus an announced overflow crowd of 3,119.

For 71?2 innings Yakima gave little indication of producing its own fireworks to accompany those already in progress at nearby Yakima Speedway, not to mention the ones that followed the camouflage jersey-clad Bears’ 9-4 triumph over Spokane.

Having sustained discouraging losses the two previous evenings, Yakima had managed only four hits and one run Friday, while banging into three double plays, and trailed by three starting the bottom of the eighth.

But Dan Kaczrowski, Brent Greer and Ryan Wheeler each singled in succession off Kevin Castner, the fourth Indians pitcher.

Then Matt Davidson, the Bears’ cleanup hitter, drew a walk to force in a run. So did No. 5 man Clayton Conner, who was down 1-2 in the count.

In came Sam Brown to relieve Castner (whose ERA sits presently at 59.40), and Gerson Montilla slapped a grounder to the right side. Indians first baseman Clark Murphy threw wildly toward second in an attempt to start yet another double play, and two more runs scored to put Yakima ahead, 5-4, for the first time.

Next came still another walk, to pinch-hitter Astolfo Inciarte, and then a two-run single by Jorge Corniel, his second hit of the night.

After a strikeout for the inning’s first out on its ninth hitter, Kaczrowski got his second hit of the inning, hammering an opposite-field double to drive home the final run of the Bears’ eight-run eighth.

That’s right, eight.

Who says a snowman can’t thrive in mid-summer weather?

“That was definitely huge for us,” said Kaczrowski, who finished 3-for-5 to raise his batting average to .319. “I was looking for a first-pitch fastball to get us started, and then we had some great at bats by a bunch of guys to keep it going.”

The Bears, who’d lost five of their previous six, thus squared their record at 7-7 heading into a five-game series at Everett. They’ll return Thursday for the first of five against Salem-Keizer.

“We were patient tonight,” manager Bob Didier said, “and that obviously worked to our benefit. And I’d still like to meet that guy who first said, ‘You never know.’”

Conner, who had flown out to deep center, fanned and grounded into a double play in his three prior at bats, might have been especially eager to swing from his heels in the eighth.

But, asked how hard he was squeezing his bat while facing Castner, Conner smiled and said, “Light as a feather. We needed runs and I had to be disciplined. To have that kind of an inning and win that kind of game, we needed that.”

In addition to the hitting heroics, the pitching of starter Chris Odegaard and relievers Justin Albert, Randy Hamrick and Brad Wilson loomed large.

“They kept us close,” Didier said. “We hated to use Wilson after getting a five-run lead, but we already had him warmed up.”

After a perfect two-strikeout, ninth, the right-hander from Cal Poly Pomona kept his ERA at zero through five appearances and eight innings. He has fanned 12 while walking one, and has yielded just two hits.

Spokane (5-9), which had won its last two to snap a six-game skid, got two hits each from Murphy and Tommy Mendonca, including the latter’s first professional home run.

“You lose some tough games like we have,” Didier said, “and you struggle and start to press a little bit. Maybe this will energize us.”