Jaden Hill provides four promising innings, Spokane Indians edge Everett 3-1

Pitcher Jaden Hill is a work in progress. Due to injuries in college, the right-hander with a mid-to-upper 90s fastball had made 23 appearances (19 starts) covering just 69 innings the previous four seasons .

The 23-year-old hasn’t missed a start for the Spokane Indians this season, but the results have been wildly inconsistent. In 12 starts prior to Saturday, Hill was 0-6 with a 9.92 ERA. He had reached four innings pitched just twice as the organization tries to build him up.

Hill allowed one run over four promising innings, the offense arrived late – but in time – and the Spokane Indians edged the Everett AquaSox 3-1 in a High-A Northwest League game at Avista Stadium on Saturday.

The Indians improved to 7-7 in the second half.

“I felt great, had everything working,” Hill said. “They’re a really good hitting team but we were able to put them away.”

“He committed to the plan, attacked the strike zone with all three pitches. They couldn’t catch up,” pitching coach Ryan Kibler said.

Hill pounded the strike zone in the first two innings, facing one batter above the minimum with a pair of strikeouts.

Everett catcher Ty Duvall, in his first High-A at-bat of the season, got ahold of one of Hill’s fastballs in the second inning and sent it into the parking lot beyond the right field picnic area. Hill bounced back for two more strikeouts, the second one looking on a breaking ball, to get out of the inning without further damage.

“Just scouting them throughout the week, see how the guys set them up, I knew how I needed to come in and attack and man, the game plan worked,” Hill said.

Hill tossed a 1-2-3 inning with two more strikeouts in the fourth, matching his season-high in innings and strikeouts with six.

Kibler noted some recent delivery adjustments Hill has made over the past couple of weeks, allowing him to get more on his changeup and breaking ball to right-handed batters.

“He got on top of some pitches today,” Kibler said. “When he gets on top of the changeup, it has some depth to it. And that’s what he did today – stuck with it and trusted it and it worked for him.

“He was able to sustain it a little bit longer today too. And that, added to his stuff, added some (up-down break) rather than stuff moving off the plate. So, we can start to link pitches together.”

Hill is still on a strict regimen in his return from ligament reconstruction surgery and didn’t expect to come back out for the fifth.

“I knew it was my last,” he said. “With Tommy John restrictions, I know I can only pitch so much. Sometimes it’s frustrating but sometimes I’m just thankful to go out there and be able to pace and get the opportunities that I have.”

“Maybe next time,” Kibler said. “This time it was good to get him out on a good note. Build some confidence. There’s been a couple times this year where we’ve really wanted to do that. And I can see that happening in the future.”

Through six shutout innings, AquaSox starter Reid VanScoter allowed just one hit and no walks. He struck out five and recorded 10 groundouts against just one fly out – a weak popup to second base.

The bats finally caught up to VanScoter in the seventh. With one down, Nic Kent and Juan Guerrero hit back-to-back doubles to tie it at 1-1. AJ Lewis doubled into the left-field corner to plate Guerrero and put the Indians up 2-1.

With two down, Ryan Ritter singled under the glove of shortstop Axel Sanchez and Lewis hustled home to make it 3-1, ending VanScoter’s evening.

Keegan James provided three shutout innings of relief, Juan Mejia contributed a 1-2-3 eighth and Angel Chivilli tossed a perfect ninth for his league-leading 12th save of the season.

Amador surgery: Indians shortstop Adael Amador, the Colorado Rockies’ No. 1 prospect according to MLB.com, had surgery last week to repair a right wrist injury. The Rockies confirmed the procedure, and they expect he will miss six weeks.

Amador injured his right wrist/hand on a checked swing on June 17 and came out of the game. He missed two games then returned for two, leaving the game on June 22 early after trying to throw between innings. He went 0 for 9 in the two games and was placed on the seven-day injured list on June 23.

Amador is batting .302/.392/.514 with nine home runs, 35 RBIs and 12 stolen bases in 54 games.