Patrick Bailey jump starts Emeralds offense, Spokane Indians fall to Eugene 12-5

Aug. 8—Some days it's just not in the cards.

The Spokane Indians got down early on Sunday and fought through the middle innings to make a game of it.

Eventually, though, the Eugene offense was just too hot on a sunny Sunday afternoon at Avista Stadium.

Patrick Bailey hit a three-run homer in the first inning, Jimmy Glowenke added a two-run shot in the seventh and the Emeralds beat the Indians 12-5 in the finale of a six-game High-A Northwest League series.

The Indians (17-18) fell six games behind first-place Vancouver (23-12) in the NWL second half and three games back for a potential playoff tiebreaker based upon full-season record. Eugene (22-14), the first-half champ, is 11/2 games behind the Canadians.

The Indians trailed 7-0 after two innings.

"I was proud of the way they kept swinging the bat," Indians manager Scott Little said. "(Eugene) got the big hit, some of ours fell short. We made all of our at-bats count. Didn't throw any of 'em away."

"After those first two innings, we could have easily been down and been like, 'All right, we're done for the week,' " catcher Hunter Goodman added. "But we got off our back. We had some good innings. I mean, we had 14 hits, they just had a few more extra-base hits."

Goodman went 4 for 5 to raise his High-A average to .309. Goodman went 5 for 28 (.179) with 17 strikeouts in the first week after his promotion to Spokane in early July but has been one of the team's best hitters since.

"Hunter is a good hitter," Little said. "He showed it (in Fresno). He came up here and was excited. He was swinging really hard and he's just toned it down. It's just a loud noise when it comes off his bat. The guy can hit."

"I think some of it is just getting here and getting more familiar with your situation," Goodman said. "You're playing in a different ballpark, different parts of the country. So sometimes you can just take a minute to, like, get into a good rhythm up here. But I'm just trusting my approach."

It was a rough start for Indians pitcher Mason Green. A single, walk and fielder's choice loaded the bases in the first inning, and he uncorked a wild pitch to bring in a run. Patrick Bailey followed with a line-drive homer to right-center to make it 4-0 after five batters.

Green walked the leadoff hitter in the second then Luis Matos laced a double into the left field corner to plate another run. Jairo Pomares hit a high fly ball that carried over the wall and in front of the scoreboard in right-center to make it 7-0.

That was it for Green. He faced a total of 11 batters, seven of whom scored. Green's ERA, which started the day at 4.87, jumped to 7.59.

Reliever Robinson Hernandez held it there for a while but Luis Matos, the San Francisco Giants No. 3 prospect, got to him in the fourth with a solo homer, his eighth of the season.

The Indians finally got on the board in the fourth. Hunter Goodman's line drive got past left fielder Pomares for a triple, Colin Simpson walked and Mateo Gil's broken bat single plated Goodman to make it 8-1.

Trevor Boone followed with a high fly ball to left that kept carrying over the fence for a three-run homer.

The Indians strung four base hits together in the fifth, the last of which was an RBI single by pinch-hitter Robby Martin Jr, to make it 8-5.

The Emeralds went to the pen for Abel Adames to face Bladimir Restituyo with the bases loaded and two down, and Restituyo flied out to end the rally.

"There was a bunch of times when, you know, we were just down too far and we hit it too hard and I couldn't send a guy home because we couldn't — I couldn't — afford to make an out," Little said.

Eugene pushed the lead back to four against Shelby Lackey in the seventh. Bailey drew a walk on a full count, then Luis Toribio hit one off the wall in left center for a run-scoring double.

Little went to Blake Goldsberry, but the move didn't work. Jimmy Glowenke greeted the new reliever with a long home run down the left field line for a two-run shot and 11-5 lead.

The Indians travel to Hillsboro to start a six-game series on Tuesday at 7:05 p.m.