Bears' Bats Boost Yakima to 8-5 Win

EUGENE, Ore. - The Yakima Bears (20-35) exploded out of their offensive hibernation with 17 hits, backing Dan Taylor's solid outing on the mound and defeating the Eugene Emeralds (24-31) 8-5 in front of 3,084 fans at Civic Stadium Saturday night.

Astolfo Inciarte hit his first professional home run - a solo shot to right center - to open the game's scoring in the top of the third. Three batters later, Matt Davidson added a two-out, RBI single to give the Bears a 2-0 lead.

Yakima tacked on three more in the fourth, extending their lead to 5-0. The Bears would tally another in the sixth on a Dan Kaczrowski RBI single before Eugene finally got on the board thanks to Ty Wright's first home run of the season, making the score 6-1.

The Bears added a couple of insurance runs in the seventh on Tyson Van Winkle and Jorge Corniel run-scoring hits.

In the bottom of the eighth, the Emeralds scored four off Bears' reliever Pedro Rodriguez, but Brian Budrow then came in to earn a four-out save, his third of the season, and lock up the victory for Yakima.

Taylor (4-1) worked six innings, allowing one run on six hits, striking out seven and walking one to pick up the victory. Mauricio Tabachnik (2-3) went 3 2/3, giving up four earned on eight hits to take the loss.

Inciarte finished the night 3-for-4 with two runs and a homer. Ryan Wheeler went 3-for-4 as well, with two doubles.

The two teams will meet again Sunday afternoon at 4:05 for game three of the five-game series. Rafael Quezada (0-6, 6.54 ERA) gets the nod for the Bears against Miles Mikolas (0-6, 9.22 ERA) for Eugene.

All 76 games can be heard on KUTI 1460 AM and are also available streaming via the internet at www.yakimabears.com.

Yakima Bears single-game tickets, season tickets and seven new mini plans are on sale now at the new downtown Bears office at 17 N. 3rd Street, Suite 101 and online at yakimabears.com.