Spokane Indians beat Tri-City 8-3, set club record with eighth consecutive win to start season

From staff reports

PASCO – They say records are meant to be broken. The 2024 edition of the Spokane Indians broke one Saturday night that stood for 87 years.

Kyle Karros hit a two-run inside-the-park home run in the ninth inning and the Indians won a Spokane baseball-record eighth consecutive game to start the season, beating the Tri-City Dust Devils 8-3 in a Northwest League game at Gesa Stadium.

The Indians’ seven-game win streak to open the season had matched the 1937 Spokane Western International League team for the most wins to begin a season.

Indians starter Sean Sullivan went five innings and allowed two runs on five hits, striking out six and walking none. He threw 85 pitches, 69 for strikes.

Spokane (8-0) only needed three batters to take the lead. Cole Carrigg drew a leadoff walk, went to second on a ground out and scored on Karros’ RBI single.

The Indians added a pair in the third. Jean Perez singled and scored on a triple by Carrigg, who came home on a groundout. Bryant Betancourt led off the top of the fourth with a long home run to right, his first of the season.

Sullivan threw four scoreless innings before running into trouble in the fifth. Ben Gobbel ripped an RBI double to put Tri-City on the board and scored on a ground out.

Indians first base Parker Kelly led off the seventh with a single and with two down Dyan Jorge laced a triple to center to drive in Kelly and make it 5-2. After a walk by Karros, Jorge scored on a balk by reliever Jared Southard for a four-run lead.

Tri-City (1-7) picked up a run in the bottom half on a triple by Denzer Guzman and a sacrifice fly.

Davison Palermo pitched a scoreless ninth inning for Spokane to seal the victory.

The series concludes Sunday at 1:05 p.m.