Bears clinch second-half title

YAKIMA, Wash. — They paused on their way to the dugout, alerted by public address announcer Todd Lyons to the Yakima County Stadium video board.

Having just completed their handshake line after one last blast against Tri-City, the Bears were notified of Spokane’s loss at Boise, which meant they’d won the second-half Northwest League East Division championship.

Ever think you’d see such an accomplishment, Jake Hale?

“No,” said the 6-foot-7 relief pitcher who’d spent part of the previous season in Yakima. “And after last year, hell no.”

So the Bears’ 9-1 blowout of the Dust Devils, before an announced fan appreciation night crowd of 3,131 Thursday, proved more than just a final regular-season home fling.

It improved their second-half record to 23-12, or four games better than Spokane’s with three to play, thus securing the franchise’s first title of any sort since 2000.

Yakima, 41-32 overall, will conclude its regular season with three games at Boise. The Bears will then host the first-half winning Indians for Game 1 of a best-of-three division series here Monday night.

“This was fun,” said Enrique Burgos, who was a 9-year-old living in Panama City, Panama, when the Bears beat Eugene for their most recent league championship. “It gives us confidence. We’ve been playing so much better this half, and that’s why we clinched this championship tonight.”

Burgos, who will start Game 2 of next week’s series at Spokane, teamed with Justin Albert, Corey Davisson and Kable Hogben on a four-hitter with 10 strikeouts.

In his 15th start, and best of his season according to manager Bob Didier, Burgos allowed only three hits and one run over six innings, fanning seven and walking four to improve to 2-1.

Yakima’s offense, meanwhile, produced 11 hits — two each for Roberto Ortiz, Justin Hilt and Jhoan Pimentel, and a single for Mike Freeman that extended the second baseman’s hitting streak to 14 games.

The Bears also stole four bases, running their league-leading total to 151, or 51 more than second-place Spokane and 11 fewer than the team record set in 1994.

Three thefts came during a five-run fifth inning that snapped a 1-1 tie and helped force catcher Bryce Massanari into two throwing errors for the Dust Devils (12-23 second half, 29-44 overall).

After Freeman singled, Roberto Ortiz doubled to put runners at second and third. Zach Walters’ hit off second baseman Dominic Altobelli’s glove scored Freeman, and after Henry Zabala was hit by a pitch, Ortiz came home on Michael Weber’s sacrifice fly.

Walters and Zabala then staged a double steal, and Walters came home when Massanari’s throw to third sailed into left field.

It wasn’t the first time that Walters, who has 13 steals, had scored after forcing an errant throw at the corner.

“It’s happened more than you’d think,” he said. “Didi calls for steals sometimes in situations you wouldn’t normally expect. Sometimes we’ll steal third with two outs. But a lot of the time, like tonight, it’s worked.”

Hilt then singled, and his second theft of the evening resulted in another run when Massanari’s attempt skipped into right-center, allowing Zabala to plate. Hilt then came home on Pimentel’s two-out single.

“The running game has been a big part of our success,” Didier said. “You run and put pressure on young professional players, sometimes things get a little hot.

“We played tonight like we’ve played a lot of this season and the way we like to play, sharp and crisp and aggressive.”

Yazy Arbelo, Yakima’s cleanup hitter and the league RBI leader, was given the night off.

“He’ll play at Boise — everybody will play and get some at bats,” Didier said. “We’ll go down there and play hard for three games, then come back home and give it our best shot.”