The Northwest League franchise doesn’t want to make money just for the sake of it. Like any other financial endeavor, it has to.

So it seemed more than coincidence that a recent interview with K.L. Wombacher began with the team’s general manager saying, “If I had a dollar for every time someone has come up to me during the last few months and said, ‘Hey, you’re still here? I thought you were moving to Vancouver.’”

So did they, for a good part of last summer.

A deal for a new stadium just across the Columbia River from the sprawling pro baseball vacuum of Portland seemed all but done until the financing plan blew up.

Fans cheer as the Bears players are introduced before their playoff game against Spokane Indians on Monday, Sept. 6, 2010. (Sara Gettys/Yakima Herald-Republic)

Only months earlier, after initial overtures had been well received by Clark County, the Bears had hoped to open this season in a new $19.5 million stadium.

That was then, this is now and with their home-opener looming on June 20, Wombacher and his staffers are busily preparing for the next season and beyond.

As for where the Bears will be playing, say, five years from now — it could be here or it could be somewhere else. And for minor league baseball fans in the Yakima Valley, that’s good news since only last May the team seemed as good as gone.

A season in limbo

That the Bears seemed destined for a new home made for an unusual atmosphere last summer as team officials tried to make fans feel appreciated even as the team sought to leave. Eventually, as the Clark County process slowed, it became clear that the Bears would spend at least one more season in Yakima.

When the Vancouver option abruptly died last November, Wombacher said all options were on the table — a mentality he reiterated during our interview. In the meantime, he said the Bears are working diligently toward providing Yakima fans with a memorable summer, whether it’s among the club’s last here or not.

“Right now our focus is 100 percent on this season,” Wombacher said at the team’s downtown headquarters. “We’re looking to have a great season here in Yakima. We have some new promotions, we’ve scheduled six fireworks shows that are always very popular with our fans, and we’re hoping this propels us to something long term.”

Remember, before the Bears tried to get a stadium deal done in Vancouver they tried to get one done here. Working primarily with the city in hopes of a new facility at the old Boise Cascade mill site, the idea never gained traction.

Encouraging signs from county

Of late, Wombacher has been encouraged by overtures from the county that began with $10,000 worth of improvements to Yakima County Stadium’s much-maligned infield. The Bears then matched that monetary amount.

“We’ve had brief discussions with the commissioners, and they appear to be very open,” Wombacher said. “They want to keep us at the fairgrounds. And I think a renovation of the stadium is a possibility that could create a solution for the facility requirements.

“Just to be working together on a long-term solution is encouraging, and it appears that the commissioners are willing.”

Yakima County Stadium has been the home of the Bears since 1993. (Sara Gettys/Yakima Herald-Republic)

Beyond a ballpark makeover, which Wombacher said must start with the playing surface, dugouts and clubhouses, there is the conspicuous matter of parking fees that fans have long groused about.

The $5 it costs to park your car, many have complained, is more than it costs some fans to enter the ballpark (general admission seats for child, senior and military members cost $4.50). It’s also written into the Bears’ stadium lease, which runs through 2015, that all parking revenue goes to the county.

Might the existing agreement be modified?

“That horse,” Wombacher said, “has been beaten dead.”

So while Bears officials have long stated that the lease will be honored even if the team leaves, Wombacher said a new agreement enabling the ballclub to control parking fees would go far toward enabling them to stay.

Again, their game is a business.

“There isn’t another team in the Northwest League that doesn’t keep its parking money,” he said.

Should a new lease allow the Bears to keep some or all parking funds, Wombacher said he wasn’t sure whether the fee would be reduced or even possibly eliminated.

Reality: Bears’ game is a business

The coming season will be the 20th for Yakima County Stadium. Because it was built both cheaply and quickly, it has aged dramatically.

And fans wondering why the Bears have maintained a major league affiliation with the Arizona Diamondbacks, a franchise that has provided them with only two winning teams and one playoff berth over 11 years, should know that the ballpark has limited Yakima’s options.

Just as the Bears could pull the plug on the Diamondbacks, the Diamondbacks could do likewise. And Arizona’s officials who come here each summer have grown increasingly unhappy with the playing surface, clubhouse and training facilities — the very factors that could discourage a new affiliate.

Since buying the Bears in 1999, the ownership group Short Season, LLC with Mike McMurray as team president, has periodically spruced up the ballpark.

State funds for Yakima and other minor league baseball venues have funded new lights, a new outfield wall, a new sound system, picnic tables and a picnic deck cover. The owners, meanwhile, have bought a video board and new electric scoreboard for a combined total of about $300,000.

Attendance, which hit a modern-era low of 51,544 in 2004, increased for five straight years to 72,881 in 2009 before dropping back to 70,695 in 2010.

The uncertainty of the team’s future no doubt contributed to a further decline last year to 66,545 — or almost 20,000 fewer than Tri-City, which ranked seventh among the NWL’s eight teams.

Even with the attendance increases, which continued to rank Yakima last in the league, Wombacher said the Bears have still lost money. They have done so in at least 11 of the 13 seasons in which they’ve operated under the current owners, he said.

Where might the Bears go from here?

Meanwhile, the greater Portland area — the nation’s most populated domain that doesn’t have pro baseball — continues to beckon, and the Northwest League is understandably interested.

A relocation committee was formed during the league’s winter meetings, and NWL president Bob Richmond said in a telephone interview that teams other than the Bears are being considered for new venues. Milwaukie and Hillsboro, Ore. have been mentioned as possibilities as well as some Canadian cities.

“We formed the committee for a lot of different reasons,” Richmond said, “and various sites will be looked at from time to time.”

Boise, for example, is having stadium issues similar to those of Yakima. The team’s parent club, the Chicago Cubs, say they’ll end their affiliation if a new facility isn’t built there.

As for the Bears, especially after the Vancouver flameout, they’re realistic. “For us to relocate,” Wombacher said, “we’d have to have somewhere to go.”

But maybe the Bears will have somewhere to stay — at Yakima County Stadium.

Perhaps a combined effort from the county and the Bears will result in both a ballpark renovation and lease makeover.

After all, the Bears’ game is a business.

Has this ownership group been faultless in its operation of the club. No, it hasn’t. But having covered the team since 2003, I’ve seen what in my opinion has been a genuine effort to learn and improve in that regard.

Had management sought to merely buy the team and turn a quick profit, it would have sold or moved it long ago, and without signing a lease through 2015.

As Wombacher said during our talk, “Anytime you talk about using public money, it had better be a good investment.”

Good point. Because from that perspective baseball is a business for the county and its taxpayers, too.

• Roger Underwood’s Under the Radar blog is at sportsyakima.com He can be reached at 509-577-7694 or runderwood@yakimaherald.com

Meaning Audo Vicente will return for his second year as the Northwest League club’s skipper.

Also back will be pitching coach Doug Bochtler. Jacob Cruz, last season’s hitting coach, has been promoted to advanced Class A Visalia, and will be succeeded here by Jason Camilli.

“It’s nice to have the guys that are returning,” said Bears general manager K.L. Wombacher in a telephone interview. “We know how to work with them, they know how to work with us and we know each other’s expectations.

“Our team had a very good second half under Audo’s leadership and we believe Doug Bochtler is a tremendous pitching coach.”

Camilli, 36, was a 1994 Montreal Expos draftee who played nine season in the minor leagues. He was a hitting coach in the Washington Nationals system for two years before joining the Arizona Diamondbacks, Yakima’s parent organization.

Last year the Bears started slowly with a roster featuring few upper-level draft choices, finishing the season’s first half with the NWL’s worst record at 13-25. But they rallied, going 20-18 during the second half and contending for a second straight playoff berth through the next-to-last game.

“Audo definitely brings some energy and youthfulness to the clubhouse,” Wombacher said. “And during the short time he’s been a manager in the Diamondbacks system, he’s won at just about every level he’s been at.”

Vicente, who turned 32 last summer, is a native of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and signed with the D-backs as a 16-year-old infielder.

He reached Class AAA Tucson in 1998, then began a coaching career that saw him manage Arizona affiliates at Missoula for two years and Visalia for one before coming to Yakima last summer.

Also Tuesday, the Diamondbacks disclosed their minor league staff under director Mike Bell, who managed the Bears in 2007.

Among the names familiar to Yakima baseball fans are Mel Stottlemyre Jr., who will continue as pitching coordinator, and ex-Bears manager Bill Plummer, who remains the organization’s catching coordinator.

Bears officials, meanwhile, began negotiating with the city of Vancouver and Clark County prior to last season in hopes of getting a stadium built there for relocation. Efforts to build a new stadium in or near Yakima had failed to gain traction.

Their initial hope was to complete the new facility in time to start the 2012 season there, but the funding process slowed.

Late last season the Bears announced they would stay in Yakima for next season, although Vancouver and Clark County officials are continuing to press for a stadium that the Bears could move to in time for the 2013 campaign.

Now, the Bears have made it back-to-back.

Laura McMurray, the Bears chief financial officer since 1999, was presented the award at the league’s fall meetings.

Last year, Lauren Wombacher won the award that is given in recognition of a woman’s contributions to her city, the NWL and professional baseball.

“We are so pleased that the Northwest League recognized Laura’s contributions,” Bears general manager K.L. Wombacher said in a release from the team. “Laura has done a fantastic job for us. But, as many of our fans know, her involvement does not stop at the office. Laura also takes an active role in assuring that the experience at the ballpark is fun for everyone.”

Along with her husband, Mike, she also has served as the managing owner of the team for 13 years and has lived in Yakima since 2001.

YAKIMA, Wash. — It’s quite possible that the end to this Bears season was written in the stars — clearly visible in the late summer sky above Yakima County Stadium — because it certainly wasn’t scripted.

On a perfect Saturday night before a stadium-record throng of 3,391, the home team was flawless as it built a four-run lead through seven innings, lost it within the span of five Eugene hitters in the eighth, went ahead on a wild pitch in the bottom of the inning and then hung on for dear life in the ninth to beat the Emeralds, 5-4.

“Why not?” asked Jimmy Comerota in the midst of a raucous Bears clubhouse where one might have thought Yakima had in fact won the pennant race it had been eliminated from only 24 hours earlier.

“Why not make it exciting? Perfect night, packed crowd — and now all of us are in here smiling. I hope it was as much fun for the fans as it was for us.”

It clearly represented the improvement Yakima had made from the first half of the season, when it posted the Northwest League’s worst record (13-25) to the second, which saw the Bears contend for the East Division title through the next-to-last game and finish with a winning record at 20-18.

There was also a major off-field issue, with the team seeking to relocate to Vancouver and initially expressing hope that a new stadium would be completed there in time for the start of the 2012 season. But delays in that process soon made clear that wouldn’t happen, and the club announced Thursday that it will play at least one more season here.

“Incredible,” said manager Audo Vicente. “We are very proud of these guys, the work they put in and the improvement they made. For those reasons, it was a great season.”

With a hair-raising ending.

Tied at 4, Yakima got a leadoff single from Justin Hilt in the bottom of the eighth. Tyler Bream followed with an infield hit, and after Jae Yun Kim advanced the runners with a sacrifice bunt, Kerry Jenkins was intentionally walked to load the bases.

Tension mounted as leadoff hitter Matt Jensen stepped in, but eased somewhat when an errant pitch by Ems reliever Johnny Barbato allowed Hilt to scamper home from third.

In the ninth, however, Bears reliever Miles Reagan came on and struck out his first hitter. But strike three was also Reagan’s league-leading 15th wild pitch, enabling Jose Dore to reach first.

Pinch-runner Jace Peterson then stole second and reached third on Lee Orr’s slow groundout to short. Reagan then walked pinch-hitter Matthew Colantonio, who promptly stole second to put the go-ahead runner in scoring position.

But Casey McElroy followed with a bouncer to first — how fitting was it that Comerota made the final putout? — and the season was history.

“About time, huh?” asked Reagan, who recorded his first save. “I’ll tell you this — there was no way I was going to let a run score. Not tonight.”

Yakima’s two first-innng runs had come in the first, when one run was balked home and the second scored on Henry Zabala’s base hit.

The next two were scored in the sixth via Kim’s two-out, two-run single that scored Garrett Weber and Zabala, each of whom had singled ahead of Hilt’s walk.

Bears starter John Pedrotty, meanwhile, blanked the Ems through five innings despite yielding leadoff hits in the second, fourth and fifth. He struck out nine and walked none

“This really feels great,” said Pedrotty, a 6-foot-2 left-hander who reduced his ERA to 3.04. “I wanted to finish strong and tonight I had command of all three pitches, especially my fastball.”

Mike Blake followed with two one-hit frames, but the 4-0 lead went quickly in the eighth off Yakima’s third pitcher, Cody Geyer.

Eugene, which had yet to advance a runner to third, got a leadoff double, a one-out walk and then Casey McElroy’s RBI single. The next hitter, Zach Kometani, tied it with a towering three-run homer to left.

Victor Acosta got the inning’s final two outs, and also the win (2-0).

GETAWAY DAY: Justin Albert was loaded.

No, not in that sense, but the Bears reliever had most of his worldly possessions jammed into several traveling bags, which he loaded into an SUV prior to Saturday night’s season-ending game against Eugene.

His destination?

“Boston,” said Albert. “I’m driving straight through. Well, not straight through, because I’ll stop and rest when I get tired. I’ll be drinking plenty of coffee.”

A 6-foot, 234-pound left-hander, Albert has been among Yakima’s more prominent success stories this season, recovering from a rough midseason outing to become a dominant closer.

Entering Saturday’s play he was 5-1 with a 2.17 ERA, including a 4-0 record with three saves in 151/3 scoreless innings over his last 10 appearances

On July 17, Albert was among a group of Bears moundsmen torched by Salem-Keizer in a 16-5 loss. Making the drubbing more difficult for Albert was that more than 30 of his friends and relatives were watching, having gathered at Yakima County Stadium for a family reunion. Though Albert’s hometown is Boston, he has a grandfather in Walla Walla.

“That wasn’t much fun,” said Albert on the occasion of his shelling, though he noted at the time a history of responding strongly to rough outings. And he did so again.

“I’ve only given up one run since,” he said Saturday, smiling.

THEIR SEASON’S NOT OVER: Blake Perry, Matt Jensen, Raul Navarro, Mike Blake, Yiomar Camacho and John Pedrotty have been chosen by the Arizona Diamondbacks to participate in a fall instructional league. Evan Marshall, who pitched in Yakima earlier this season before being promoted advanced Class A Visalia, has also been selected.

Click here for box score

Click here for standings

For Northwest League team batting leaders, click here.

For Northwest League team pitching leaders, click here.

For Northwest League individual batting leaders, click here.

For Northwest League individual pitching leaders, click here.

For local players in the pros, click here.

Not that the Bears will consciously treat tonight’s season-ending game with Eugene as such, even after staging a stirring second-half surge that saw them contend for a Northwest League playoff berth until Friday night’s 2-1 loss to the Emeralds.

“We’re very proud of the guys,” manager Audo Vicente said in a quiet Yakima clubhouse. “We had a great second half, a great run and we will come out tomorrow and do what we’re supposed to do, which is play hard and play the game the right way.”

Tri-City’s defeat of Salem-Keizer on Friday made the Bears’ outcome inconsequential, since the Dust Devils already held a one-game lead and also held the tiebreaker via a 10-2 head-to-head record against Yakima.

But with an announced crowd of 2,322 watching in Yakima County Stadium, Bears starter Alex Capaul took a 1-0 lead into the seventh inning, having retired 11 consecutive hitters.

He was then reached for a one-out single and then issued a walk before pinch-hitter Matthew Colantonio lined a double off the right-center field wall, scoring both runners.

Yakima (19-18 second half, 32-43 overall), which scored in the second via Justin Hilt’s leadoff double, Tyler Bream’s slow roller to short on which Hilt advanced to third, and Raul Navarro’s sacrifice fly, went hitless over the final six innings against four Emeralds pitchers.

“One of the things that makes the playoffs so special,” said Jimmy Comerota, who with one of the Bears’ three hits extended his hitting streak to 12 games, “is you don’t get to just go do it. When things line up right and you get there, it’s very exciting. When they don’t, it hurts.”

The season has nonetheless been memorable, Comerota said.

“I get to see these guys every day,” he said. “We’ve had a hell of a run this half, and part of what makes it so special is how we’ve come together as teammates and friends. So tomorrow will be a good thing simply because we get to spend one more day together.”

Yakima, which started the second half 0-4, is 15-8 since Comerota returned from Class AA Mobile. A win tonight gives the Bears a winning second-half record for the second year in a row.

Eugene (22-15,46-29) had already qualified for the postseason as the West Divison’s first-half champion.

Opponent: Eugene Emeralds.

When, where: 7:05 p.m. today, Yakima County Stadium.

Radio/Internet: KUTI (1460)/yakimabears.com

Probable pitchers: Yakima LHP John Pedrotty (2-4, 3.29) vs. Eugene RHP Ruben Mejia (0-0, 0.00).

Notes

SAFE AT HOME: The Bears’ 14-6 home record beginning play Friday was the Northwest League East Division’s best during the second half of the season. Yakima had won 11 of its last 14 in Yakima County Stadium.

Click here for box score

Click here for standings

YAKIMA, Wash. — As he stepped into the batter’s box in the seventh inning Thursday night, to the appreciative applause of an announced 1,916 at Yakima County Stadium, Justin Hilt apologized.

Not for hitting a grand slam, which the Bears right-fielder had done in his prior at bat. Not for driving in five runs in Yakima’s 9-7 defeat of Eugene, a win that kept the Bears’ second-half pennant push alive by keeping them within a game of first-place Tri-City with two to play.

While producing dramatically in a game Yakima had to win to contend for another day, Hilt took back an off-hand comment to Eugene catcher Austin Hedges, made when Hilt touched home plate.

Hilt

“I said, ‘He throws too many sliders,’” Hilt recalled, referring to Emeralds reliever Luis De La Cruz, whom the Bears slugger had greeted with the biggest of his 11 big flies this season, a hooking line drive that cleared the left field fence above the Yakima Regional sign and gave Yakima an 8-3 fifth-inning lead. “I apologized the next time I came up. It was a heat-of-the-moment thing I shouldn’t have said, and I told him that.”

Hilt’s indiscretion aside, the Bears did in fact sustain some semblance of warmth on Tri-City in the second half of the Northwest League’s East Division race, and their task is now much clearer.

The Dust Devils’ 7-2 whipping of Salem-Keizer on Thursday means Yakima must win its last two games — here tonight and Saturday against the Emeralds — while Tri-City must lose twice at home to the Volcanoes.

Sharing the title does the Bears no good, since the first tiebreaker is head-to-head competition and the Devils won 10 of 12 this year against Yakima.

Also, Boise’s victory over Vancouver eliminated the Bears from wild-card contention, or the playoff berth that goes to the East team with the best overall record should first-half champion Tri-City prevail in the second. The Hawks lead Yakima (19-17 second half, 32-42 overall) by three games in that competition.

“This is the way it should be,” Hilt said. “We can’t worry about what Tri-City does. We just have to play hard and keep playing hard until we either win the league championship or they tell us to go home.”

Hilt’s slam highlighted a 13-hit assault that saw the Bears fall behind 3-0 early, then score nine unanswered runs.

Eight of Yakima’s nine starters had at least one hit, with Hilt, Garrett Weber, Jimmy Comerota, Tyler Bream and Carter Bell producing two each.

Bream, who lengthened his hitting streak to 14 games, also drove in two runs.

Bears starter Adam Kudryk steadied after a shaky first two innings, improving to 5-4 while lowering his ERA to 3.40.

Teo Gutierrez worked two scoreless frames before getting hit hard in the ninth, yielding four runs on six hits and allowing the tying run to come to the plate before Justin Albert was summoned for the final out and his fifth save.

Eugene (21-15, 45-29) took a quick lead off Kudryk, scoring in the first on back-to-back two-out doubles and adding two runs in the second with the help of an error.

But the Bears came back, scoring two in the bottom of the second and two more in the third.

Bream drove in Yakima’s first run with a single and Tyson Van Winkle plated the second with a double to left center.

In the third, Bell drove in Danny Pulfer from third on a check-swing roller to first, and Hilt followed with an RBI double to the gap in left-center.

The Bears’ big inning saw Comerota, Weber and Bell single with one out to precede Hilt’s slam.

Yakima added a run in the seventh via Weber’s leadoff double and Bream’s two-out single.

“We want to make the playoffs,” manager Audo Vicente said, “and if we qualify, perfect. But if it happens or not, playing hard and improving the way we have means we’ve accomplished a great deal. It shows we’ve gotten better.”

Opponent: Eugene Emeralds.

When, where: 7:05 p.m. today, Yakima County Stadium.

Radio/Internet: KUTI (1460)/yakimabears.com

Probable pitchers: Yakima RHP Alex Capaul (2-2, 3.09) vs. Eugene RHP James Needy (1-4, 4.97).

Notes

OFFICIALLY, THEY’LL BE BACK: What has been a foregone conclusion for weeks became official Thursday when the Bears issued a brief press release stating they will play the 2012 season at Yakima County Stadium.

“Although we had hoped to play in a permanent, suitable facility in 2012, we are pleased to announce that Yakima County Stadium will be the home of the Bears for at least one more season,” general manager K.L. Wombacher said in the four-paragraph release.

The Bears are continuing negotiations with Clark County officials and other community members in Vancouver for a new stadium there. Initially they had hoped to have a new facility completed in time for the start of next season, but it soon became apparent that such a timeline could not be met.

Efforts to finance a new stadium in or near Yakima have thus far been unsuccessful.

SALUTING THE MILITARY: The Bears weren’t the only people in uniform Thursday night at Yakima County Stadium.

Military Appreciation Night saw several branches of the armed forces having personnel in attendance, including a pregame ceremony featuring a color guard presenting American flags prior to a rendition of the Star Spangled Banner.

During the game, several autographed camouflaged Bears jerseys were auctioned off with proceeds going to U.S. troops.

UNDER THE WEATHER: Yakima second baseman Danny Pulfer, removed from Wednesday night’s game after three innings, was not feeling well.

“I just got sick,” said Pulfer, who was back in Thurday’s lineup. “Something just hit me. But I’m fine now.”

Click here for box score

Click here for standings

This is a photo gallery from Wednesday’s Yakima Bears-Eugene Emeralds baseball game at Yakima County Stadium.

YAKIMA, Wash. — As if he knew the consequences, Jimmy Comerota slowed down between first base and second, slapped his hands and kicked the dirt.

Yakima pitcher Yiomar Camacho scrambles after a grounder by Eugene's Alberth Martinez Wednesday at Yakima County Stadium.||SARA GETTYS/Yakima Herald-Republic

The Bears’ only Northwest League all star, who had come through in so many clutch situations this season, on Wednesday night ended Yakima’s latest chance to secure perhaps its biggest win.

Comerota’s fly to right was the third out of the eighth inning, stranding a runner at third in a game that saw the Bears allow four unearned runs en route to a 7-6 loss to Eugene.

The good news for Yakima was that first-place Tri-City also lost, keeping the Bears within a game of the Northwest League’s East Divison second-half lead with three to play.

Yakima did lose ground in the wild-card chase, however, with both Boise and Spokane winning. The Hawks’ triumph increased their lead in that competition to three games over the Bears, although Yakima holds the tiebreaker should the teams finish even.

Wednesday, before an announced gathering of 1,692 at Yakima County Stadium, four Bears errors proved fatal.

They negated an 11-hit Yakima attack that saw hitting streaks extended for Tyler Bream (13), Comerota (10), Carter Bell (eight) and Justin Hilt (seven) while Greg Robinson kept the Bears close with 3 1/3 innings of hitless relief pitching.

Yakima's Westly Moss slides safely past the tag of Eugene's Colin Rea during the first inning Wednesday.||SARA GETTYS/Yakima Herald-Republic

Bell doubled, singled and drove in two runs while Bream and Jae Yun Kim had two hits each for Yakima (18-17 second half, 31-42 overall), which had won eight of nine and has remaining games here tonight, Friday and Saturday with the Emeralds (21-14, 45-28).

After Eugene had taken a 7-4 lead in the top of the eighth, scoring twice on Jace Peterson’s two-out, two-run single, the Bears got two in the bottom of the frame and put the tying runner on third.

Hilt started the rally with a leadoff triple to right-center, then scored on Bream’s single to left. Kerry Jenkins then steered a one-out base hit through the left side, and with two outs Matt Jensen hammered a single to left that scored Bream and advanced Jenkins to third.

Comerota, with the league’s fourth-highest batting average (.316) and Yakima’s RBI leader at 34, then skied to right.

The Emeralds scored single runs in each of the first two innings, with an error contributing to each.

Peterson, led off with an infield single and reached third with the help of a fielding error by Yakima starter Yiomar Camacho, scored on the front end of a double steal. A leadoff walk, a throwing error by second baseman Danny Pulfer and a single by Kyle Gaedele plated Eugene’s second run.

The Bears had taken a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the first when Westley Moss scored on a wild pitch and Comerota, who’d drawn a one-out walk, moved up on the errant offering, stole third and then scored on Bell’s groundout.

But Eugene got three more in the third off Camacho, one on Travis Whitmore’s sacrifice fly and two more on Matthew Colantonio’s two-out base hit to right-center.

The Bears got one back in the bottom of the inning on Comerota’s two-out infield hit, an error and Bell’s double off the right-field wall. Hilt, however, stranded two runners in scoring position by taking a called third strike.

In the fourth, Yakima loaded the bases with one out via singles by Bream and Kim and a one-out walk to Moss, but Jensen popped to second and Comerota bounced out to the pitcher.

The hosts did make it a one-run game in the sixth, however, when Bream drew a leadoff walk, took second on Kim’s single and third on a stolen base, then scored on an error.

Again, there was an opportunity for more with runners at first and third and no outs, but Moss fanned and Jensen banged into a double play.

Yakima, 3 for 14 with runners in scoring position, stranded 10.

Opponent: Eugene Emeralds.

When, where: 7:05 p.m. today, Yakima County Stadium.

Radio/Internet: KUTI (1460)/yakimabears.com

Probable pitchers: Yakima LHP Adam Kudryk (4-4, 3.54) vs. Eugene RHP Will Scott (2-1, 2.81).

Notes

THE DECISION OF THE JUDGES IS FINAL: Tri-City, by virtue of its 10-2 record against the Bears this season, would win the second-half East Division title if the Dust Devils should finish tied with Yakima.

Since Tri-City also won the first half, the second divisional playoff berth would go to the remaining team with the best overall record, and in that competition the Bears trailed Boise by two games and Spokane by one beginning play Wednesday.

Head-to-head play is the tiebreaker in that regard, also. Yakima is 7-5 against the Hawks and 4-8 against the Indians, who had lost seven straight through Tuesday.

If there’s a three-way tie? Northwest League playoff procedures have no provision for such an occurrence, and Bears officials were uncertain Wednesday as to what would happen in that eventuality.

The best guess — and it’s only a guess — would be combined head-to-head records of the three teams. Yakima, for example is 11-13 against both Boise and Spokane. That record would then be matched opposite Spokane’s record against the Bears and Boise and the Hawks’ record against Yakima and the Indians.

LATEST WORD ON SAMMY: “Close,” was Bears trainer Keven Burroughs’ response Wednesday when asked how close Yakima reliever Sammy De Los Santos is to pitching again. “Hopefully he’ll make an appearance before the regular season ends.”

De Los Santos had established himself as the Bears’ closer before an arm problem sidelined him earlier this month.

IN HIS ABSENCE … : A main reason Yakima hasn’t struggled since De Los Santos was shut down is Justin Albert.

In his last nine appearances, many in closing roles, Albert has worked 15 scoreless innings en route to a 4-0 record with two saves.

PATIENCE, PATIENCE: Justin Hilt struggled mightily early this season, with many of his strikeouts coming on pitches out of the zone.

“That’s the whole battle with me,” he said recently. “I was too easy to get out — too many holes to throw to.”

During the second half, in which Hilt has raised his batting average from well below the Mendoza Line to .210, and has also hit 10 homers to tie for third among the league leaders, Hilt has worked opposing pitchers for 21 walks to raise his season total to a team-high 25.

“He’s been huge for us in the middle of our lineup,” teammate Jimmy Comerota said. “He has talent. You don’t just walk into 10 home runs, not in this league and especially in this park.”

YAKIMA, Wash. — It’s entirely possible, given the nature of recent events, that the question Jimmy Comerota posed to anyone who’d listen Tuesday stemmed primarily from nervous energy.

Still, it was valid.

“You ready for this?” the Bears first baseman asked repeatedly, hours before his teammates responded by roughing up Eugene, 7-1, before an announced group of 1,388 at Yakima County Stadium.

By answering affirmatively, Yakima stayed within one game of first-place Tri-City in the Northwest League’s second-half East Division race with four to play. The Bears (18-16 second half, 31-41 overall) also gained one on Spokane in the quest for the best season record among the three remaining teams, which would determine a playoff berth should the first-half champion Dust Devils prevail in the second.

“The thing is,” Comerota said afterward, “you always wonder if a little thing like an off day (Monday), the trip home or the loss we had in our last game in Everett might derail you.”

Not in this instance, due to seven innings of one-hit pitching by starter Blake Perry plus a six-run fourth inning, Yakima’s biggest of the season.

“I think what’s happened,” said Danny Pulfer, whose 3 for 5 night included a two-run single in the Bears’ pivotal inning, “is we came back from Tri-City (a three-game Dust Devils sweep that on Aug. 20 left Yakima six games out of first place) and just said, ‘Screw it, let’s just play.’ We’ve been looser, playing more like we’ve got nothing to lose. And it’s helped.”

It has if eight wins in nine games since the aforementioned Dust Devils debacle are an indication.

“Two weeks ago we weren’t thinking about this (the division race),” said manager Audo Vicente. “Now we have an opportunity, and we don’t want to put pressure on our players. All we’re telling them is, ‘Keep playing the way you’ve been playing, and take things day by day.’”

Perry, a 6-foot-5, 190-pound 19-year-old in his second start since being promoted from the Arizona Diamondbacks’ Rookie League squad, retired his first seven hitters. The right-hander endured a one-run speed bump that included a one-out walk, hit batsman and two-out, RBI single in the third, then faced the minimum 12 batters over his final four frames.

“I had some help,” Perry said. “The wind was blowing and it knocked a couple of balls down that they’d hit hard. My defense picked me up, too. I just tried to do what I could.”

After each team scored a single run in the third, Yakima broke it open in the fourth.

The Bears sent 12 hitters to the plate with five of them rapping out hits — the most productive of which was Pulfer’s single inside the bag at first that scored two runs. A third scored on a throwing error by Eugene first baseman Travis Whitmore.

Tyler Bream’s run-scoring double, which plated the first run of the inning, extended his hitting streak to 12 games. Justin Hilt capped the scoring with an RBI single, running his own hitting streak to six games.

Jae Yun Kim and Garrett Weber also had base hits during the uprising, which included two errors that made Yakima’s final two runs unearned.

Comerota, who lined out to center during the Bears’ big inning, singled up the middle in the sixth, marking the ninth consecutive game in which the newly-named all-star had hit safely.

“I’d been telling the guys,” he said, “that it’s not the double that really helps you, it’s what you do before the double. Hilt walked before Bream’s double, and those two things got us going.”

The Emeralds (20-14, 44-28) saw a six-game winning streak snapped, issuing twice as many walks (six) as they totaled hits (three).