Miscues On D Lead To 12-Inning Bears Loss

The Yakima Bears lost 4-3 in 12 innings to the Tri-City Dust Devils Friday night at Yakima County Stadium. The Bears fell to 1-2 in extra innings and 8-7 overall this season.

A costly error in the second inning lead to three second-inning runs for the Dust Devils. None of the runs were earned against starter Daniel Watts, who pitched four innings with those unearned runs his only blemish. Watts avoided the loss thanks to offensive production after he left.

Josh Parr led off the bottom of the fourth inning with single. Joe Loftus hit a groundball to second, but both runners were safe as Parr was running on the pitch and beat the throw to second base. Jacob House hit a single to score Parr and Jimmy Comerota hit a groundout to plate Loftus.

The Bears tied the game in the fifth inning, as Mike Lang hit a two-out double and then came home on a Parr single. The pitchers then went in to lockdown mode on both sides, as neither team scored again until the deciding run for the Dust Devils came in the twelfth inning.

The Bears bullpen looked good behind Watts. Jose Jose allowed no runs in an inning and a third. Frank Santana kept the Dust Devils off the scoreboard for two and a third innings. RJ Hively tossed two scoreless frames. Kyle Owings took the loss, as the leadoff batter reached on an error and, eventually, came in to score for another unearned run.

Offensively the Bears outhit the Dust Devils 9-7, with Kevin Medrano going 3-for-5 and both Josh Parr and Jacob House finishing 2-for-5. Defensively the Bears three errors ended up being too much to overcome.

With the series tied at 1-1, the two teams meet again Saturday night for a 7:05 game on Prostate Cancer Awareness Night. The Bears will wear special blue uniforms for the event, former Major Leaguer Luis Gonzalez will sign autographs from 6:15 to 6:45, Diamondbacks President and CEO Derrick Hall will share his survival story with the crowd, and fireworks will follow the game. Right-handed pitchers Blake Perry of the Bears and Ryan Arrowood of the Dust Devils are the expected starters.