Bears show some signs of life, still lose

The education of Houston Summers produced more harsh lessons Tuesday night and the Bears of 2008 lost again.

But at least this time, the cause didn't necessarily seem wasted as well.

Unlike their previous game, and others which have littered a season that stands at 14-28, the Bears showed resiliency and resolve in an 8-5 defeat to Eugene before an announced group of 1,667 at Yakima County Stadium.

The one problem this time was one inning -- an 11-batter, five-hit fourth in which all seven runs scored with two out.

The Emeralds led 8-0 after Daniel Vasquez was summoned to get the third in relief of Summers, whose struggles to control his knuckleball continued and necessitated the use of too many fastballs.

And while the performance was more encouraging and the effort appeared stronger, reality reminded that Yakima entered its second off day of the year having lost 11 of 13 games and nine of its 10 series.

"Close but no cigar," manager Bob Didier said. "We had some bright spots -- we had 10 hits for the first time in awhile and our relief pitching (five scoreless, three-hit innings from Vasquez, Sean Morgan, Bryan Woodall and Jordan Meaker) was solid.

"But it's hard to play through a seven-run inning."

Especially one that began so quietly.

Robbie Blauer was on first via a single with two out when Cole Figueroa, an Emeralds newcomer who's hitting .364 after his first three professional games, got another base hit.

Beamer Weems then pulled a grounder into the hole between second and first, and David Cooper made a diving stop. He was unable to make a play on Weems after struggling to get the ball out of his glove, however, and his throw to the plate was too late to get Blauer.

Logan Gelbrich, the No. 9 hitter, then doubled home two more runs before the next three batters walked, singled and walked, respectively, to load the bases. Matt Clark's double to left cleared them, and brought Didier to the mound.

"He gave up a few hits on fastballs," Didier said of Summers, whose record slipped to 3-3 while his earned-run average rose to 5.36. "We've been trying to cut down on his walks by having him throw some fastballs, but some of the ones they hit found holes and they hit some others we couldn't catch."

The Bears' comeback might have started sooner and been more substantial had they not banged into four double plays.

But at least there were signs of life, and this defeat was not littered with the walks and errors that made Monday night's 10-2 loss so distasteful for Didier.

Yakima scored single runs in the fifth and seventh innings, then took advantage of an error to add three in the eighth.

Cooper's sacrifice fly scored the first and Justin Parker's single plated Andrew Fie with the second after Fie had tripled high off the wall in left-center.

With one out in the eighth, Brendan Duffy legged out an infield single, Alfredo Marte walked and Anthony Smith's grounder crawled up first baseman Blauer's arm for an error that scored Duffy and sent Marte to third.

A wild pitch allowed Marte to plate before Parker's two-out double into the left-field corner scored Smith.

Marte, 2-for-3 with a walk, boosted his average to a team-high .307, Duffy's two hits raised an average once well beneath the Mendoza line to .220, and Parker and Roberto Rodriguez also had two hits apiece.

Designated hitter Clark, with a 3-for-5, four-RBI night, was the big gun for Eugene (20-22) while standout right-fielder Sawyer Carroll walked three times and scored twice.

"With the wind blowing out like it was," Didier said, "I expected it to be a high-scoring game. And when we score five, we usually have a chance to win. We just couldn't quite get there tonight."