Robby Martin Jr provides insurance home run, Spokane Indians top Vancouver 4-1 in series opener
May 14—The Spokane Indians' offense had a rough road trip last week, scoring just 10 runs over a six-game series in Hillsboro, Oregon. It's no surprise the visitors lost five of six.
Though they started slowly on Tuesday, the Indians finally got the bats going — and found themselves back in the win column.
Juan Guerrero and Robby Martin Jr. homered and the Indians defeated the Vancouver Canadians 4-1 in the opener of a seven-game High-A Northwest League series at Avista Stadium.
The second-place Indians improved to 17-12.
"I think we got 11 hits as a team," Martin said. "Usually, that's gonna result in a good win. It's just good to bounce back from last week and start off the week with a win."
Indians starter Victor Juarez (1-1) battled through five innings. He allowed one unearned run on four hits, striking out six and walking three. Juarez threw 92 pitches, 59 for strikes.
"Even last week, our pitchers did what they needed to do to keep us in the ballgame," Martin said. "We just offensively didn't get it done. So, it was good for (Juarez) to come out in the first inning and stay composed and keep us in the ballgame."
Vancouver (14-15) took the early lead in the top of the first. With one down, Ryan McCarty singled, stole second and scored on Nick Goodwin's single. He bounced back to strike out the next two batters to end the threat.
The Indians — rather, Guerrero — tied in in the fourth with a solo homer that stayed just fair down the left-field line. It was Guerrero's second homer of the season.
Parker Kelly led off the home half of the fifth with a single and moved up when Cole Carrigg was hit by a pitch. Dyan Jorge reached on an infield single to load the bases. After a baserunning error wiped out the bases-loaded situation, Kelly raced home on a wild pitch to put the Indians up 2-1.
Spokane added to the lead in the seventh with some help from the ballpark itself. With one on and two down, Martin hit a low line drive into the right-field corner that cleared the 6-foot-high wall at the 296-foot mark by a foot. It went as his first home run of the season — and provided a 4-1 lead.
"I wasn't sure if it was even gonna stay fair or not," Martin said. "I was kind of waiting for it. But I also had to run hard 'cause I didn't know if I got enough of it for it to be a home run."
