Bears win, close in on playoff berth

PASCO, Wash. — If there was both good and bad news for the Bears on Saturday night, much more of it was good than bad.

The good news was Yakima beat Tri-City 4-2 before an announced 2,620 at Gesa Stadium. The bad news was that second-place Spokane defeated Boise to remain two games behind the Bears in the East Division’s second-half race with eight to play.

But also, the Hawks’ loss reduced Yakima’s magic number for making the Northwest League playoffs to two. Meaning the Bears (19-11 second half, 37-31 overall) would qualify even if they are denied the second-half title by virtue of having a better season record than Boise.

Yakima and Tri-City meet twice more here before moving to Yakima County Stadium for three games.

Saturday the Bears overcame a 2-0 deficit with a pair of two-run innings plus five innings of scoreless relief pitching.

Greg Robinson, who allowed one hit in two innings after replacing starter Enrique Burgos, got his team-best seventh win. Keith Cantwell followed with two hitless frames and Kable Hogben worked a 1-2-3, two-strikeout ninth for his ninth save.

Yakima, down 2-0 in the fourth, loaded the bases via a walk to Henry Zabala, a single to Michael Weber and a walk to Jhoan Pimentel.

After Westley Moss fanned for the second out, Mike Freeman scored Zabala and Weber with a single to tie it.

In the sixth, Pimentel drew a one-out walk and took second on Moss’s groundout. After Freeman walked, Raywilly Gomez singled on a ball that deflected off pitcher Tyler Trice to score Freeman and Pimentel.

Moss had two of the Bears’ six hits while Pimentel drew four walks.