No Breeze, But Eight Is Enough

SPOKANE VALLEY, Wash. -- With a 30+ mph gale blowing out to left field much of the night, one expected a home run derby at Avista Stadium on Tuesday.

That did not come to pass, but a blow that missed leaving the yard by a few feet turned out to be the key hit as the Hillsboro Hops defeated the Spokane Indians 8-6 in the opening game of their critical six-game series.

The Hops (25-25) climbed to within three games of the league leader with their sixth win in seven tries against the Tribe (27-21) this season. Hillsboro likely needs to win this series to have a realistic chance at winning the first-half title in the Northwest League.

With Hillsboro clinging to a 4-3 lead in the eighth inning and one runner aboard with two outs, leadoff batter Brett Johnson turned an 0-2 count into a base on balls. Indians reliever Luis Amoroso proceeded to walk the next batter, Jean Walters on four pitches to load the bases for the NWL home run leader Andrew Pintar. With the count 1-2, Pintar socked a shot to deep left center that didn't have enough arc to catch the prevailing wind, but had enough carry to smash off the top of the fence, clearing the bases and giving the Hops enough cushion to hold on in the late innings.

They needed it. Alfred Morillo, pitching in back of starter Logan Clayton (1-3), departed with two outs and a runner on in the eighth. Lefthander Armando Vasquez, pitching for the first time since May 26, walked Bryant Betancourt on four pitches before surrendering a three-run homer to left by newest Indian Jake Snider, recently promoted from low-A Fresno.

Now with an 8-6 lead, Zane Russell came on to pitch the ninth inning for the Hops. The likely successor to dominant closer Kyle Amendt (5 for 5 in saves, now at AA Amarillo), Russell has battled arm and command issues after an impressive pro debut in 2023. The Texan righty walked light-hitting Jean Perez to open the inning, but whiffed rising star Cole Carrigg, eliciting a loud expletive from the fiery blonde center fielder as he stalked back to the dugout. Dyan Jorge, the Rockies' 7th-rated prospect per MLB Pipeline, one spot ahead of Carrigg, followed with a Bermuda bloop to left center, putting the tying runs on with one out for the league-leader in runs batted in, Kyle Karros. But Russell set down the former UCLA Bruin looking, then coaxed a harmless grounder to second from cleanup hitter Robby Martin, Jr. to close out his first save of 2024.

Remarkably, Snider's tater was the only ball to clear the fence on this night. Each team finished with ten hits, but five of the Hops hits went for two bases.

After Spokane took a 2-0 lead in the third inning, the Hops answered with a three-spot in the top of the fourth. Manny Pena followed back-to-back, one-out singles by Gavin Conticello and Neyfy Castillo with the first of his two doubles, driving in the first Hillsboro run. Jose Fernandez followed with a chopper to short that Jorge dropped for an error, scoring Castillo with the tying run. After Gavin Logan walked to load the bases, Juan Corniel hit another chopper to Jorge, who fielded it cleanly, but was unable to turn two as Pena steamed home to give Hillsboro a 3-2 lead.

The Hops made it 4-2 in the sixth as Pena led off with a two-bagger off Spokane starter Victor Juarez and Logan greeted reliever Braxton Hyde with another two-bagger.

It was a breakout game for the third-year catcher from Alberta, who entered play batting under .100, but finished the night 3-for-3, reaching base all five times.

Juan Guerrero doubled high off the wall in left to score Karros in the bottom of the sixth as the Indians closed to within 4-3, but Clayton retired the next two batters and Morillo pitched a scoreless seventh, setting up the Hops eighth-inning clinching outburst.