EJ Andrews homers, knocks in three; Spokane Indians take opener at Hillsboro 8-2

HILLSBORO, Ore. – EJ Andrews Jr. hit a two-run homer and knocked in three and the Spokane Indians beat the first-place Hillsboro Hops 8-2 in the opener of a six-game High-A Northwest League series at Hillsboro Ballpark on Tuesday.

The Indians (5-5) jumped out quickly on Andy Perez’s first-inning solo home run.

The defense let them down in the bottom half, leading to two runs. Starting pitcher McCade Brown made an errant pickoff throw that went down the right-field line, allowing Cristofer Torin of the Hops (7-3) to go from first to third.

Ryan Waldschmidt singled and stole second base, and catcher Cole Messina tried to pick off Torin at third, but his throw sailed into left field and past Jared Thomas and both runners scored.

It was all Spokane after that.

Indians DH Jesus Ordonez singled in the second and scored on a ground-rule double by Andrews. The Indians made it 3-2 in the third when Skyler Messinger singled, took second on a wild pitch, and scored on Ordonez’s double.

The Indians added a run in the fifth when Perez reached on an error, Aidan Longwell doubled and Messinger hit a sacrifice fly. In the seventh, Caleb Hobson was hit by a pitch, stole second, went to third on an errant pickoff throw and scored on Braylen Wimmer’s single to make it 5-2.

Andrews couldn’t get a sacrifice bunt down in the ninth inning, but two pitches later he crushed a two-run homer – his first of the season and 26th career minor league homer in 298 games. Another run scored on Perez’s groundout.

Brown went two innings, allowing two runs, both unearned, on two hits and two walks with four strikeouts. Brown threw 44 pitches, 24 for strikes. Braxton Hyde followed with three shutout innings, striking out five.