Rally Falls Short for Bears in 6-4 Loss

The Yakima Bears lost 6-4 to Salem-Keizer Friday night at Volcanoes Stadium in Keizer, Oregon. The loss snapped the Bears four-game win streak.

The first batter for the Volcanoes reached on an error by Bears starting pitcher Alex Carreras and that error led to two unearned runs in the first inning. Carreras struggled throughout, allowing three earned runs to score as well in four and a third innings of work while suffering his second loss. Behind Carreras, Blake Forslund tossed two and two thirds scoreless innings. Frank Santana allowed one run in the eighth as the only other Bears pitcher to take the hill Friday.

Mike Lang hit a solo home run in the top of the fifth, which was the only run support Carreras got while he was pitching. More runs would come later, as back-to-back two-out singles by Mike Lang and Adam McConnell were followed by a Danny Poma double to plate both runners in the seventh inning. Shaun Cooper hit a two-out triple in the eighth inning and scored on a wild pitch to pull the Bears within one before Santana gave up a run in the bottom of that same inning.

Both teams had 10 hits and half of the Bears hits were extra-base hits. Danny Poma went 3-for-4 with a double and two RBIs. Mike Lang and Adam McConnell both went 2-for-4 with Lang hitting his first home run and McConnell getting a double for his first professional hit. Cooper’s triple and a Mark Ginther triple were the other extra-base hits for Yakima.

The Bears are now 17-11 and still lead the series against Salem-Keizer 2-1 with two games to play at Volcanoes Stadium. Saturday’s game is scheduled for 7:05. The Bears are expected to start lefty Daniel Watts, while right-handed pitcher Kendry Flores is the probable pitcher for Salem-Keizer.