Bats silenced second straight game, Spokane Indians downed by Tri-City 11-3

From staff reports

PASCO – The Spokane Indians’ bats took the night off for the second game in a row.

Chase Chaney tossed six shutout innings and the Tri-City Dust Devils beat the Indians 11-3 in a Northwest League game at Gesa Stadium on Friday.

The Indians (25-23) were limited to five hits by four Dust Devils pitchers. Spokane remains one game behind Vancouver (26-22) for first place with 11 games to play in the first half.

The six-game series is tied at 2.

Tri-City (25-24) went up 1-0 in the first inning as Joe Stewart doubled off Indians starter Jaden Hill and scored on Gabe Matthews’ RBI single.

Hill got into more trouble in the third. Matthews singled and went to third on Arol Vera’s double. Hill hit Werner Blakely to load the bases and Alexander Ramirez drilled a double to center to score two.

Hill lasted just 31/3 innings and allowed three runs on seven hits. He struck out three and walked one.

Spokane scored in the fifth . AJ Lewis walked and went to third as Nic Kent reached on a two-base fielding error by right fielder Osmy Gregorio. Bryant Quijada grounded out and Lewis scored on the play.

Reliever Mason Green came in for the Indians in the bottom half but walked the first two batters . After a sacrifice, Vera scored on a groundout.

Green issued his third walk of the inning to load the bases and D’Shawn Knowles doubled to left to make it 5-1.

The Indians scored in the sixth as Sterlin Thompson doubled, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on a fielding error at third by Blakely.

They loaded the bases with two down in the seventh, but Yanquiel Fernandez grounded to second to end the threat.

The floodgates opened in the bottom half.

Ramirez singled against Evan Shawver, went to second on a groundout, took third on a passed ball and scored on Myles Emmerson’s single. Knowles followed with a single, and manager Robinson Cancel pulled Shawver in favor of Tyler Ahearn.

Ahearn struck out Joe Stewart, but Adrian Placencia and Matthews both singled to make it 8-2.

Vera followed with a drive down the right-field line for a three-run home run and a six-run inning.

Transaction: Thompson was activated from the injured list before the game. He had been out since April 30 due to an elbow injury.

Through the first 18 games of the season, the 21-year-old first-round pick (31st overall) in the 2022 MLB draft hit .463/.513/.746 with three homers, 18 RBIs and five stolen bases.

He went 1 for 3 with a walk and a run in his return.