EJ Andrews homers, draws walk-off walk; Spokane Indians edge Eugene 5-4

Konner Eaton’s name is all over the Northwest League pitching categories leaderboard.

A few weeks into the second half of the season, that usually means a player is ready for promotion.

Eaton, 22, leads the league in innings pitched (91 1/3) and strikeouts (100), is second in ERA among qualified starters and third in wins. Against the league-leading Eugene Emeralds on Wednesday, Eaton came within one out of recording his third consecutive shutout appearance of six innings or longer.

The only thing Eaton couldn’t do was pitch a complete game. But things got weird late, and the home team eventually had the last laugh.

The Emeralds rallied for three runs in the eighth inning off two relievers – on a pair of walks and a balk – but the Indians scored twice in the ninth on five consecutive walks and beat Eugene 5-4 in the second of a six-game High-A Northwest League series at Avista Stadium.

The Indians trailed by one entering the bottom of the ninth. Eugene reliever Liam Simon faced five batters and didn’t retire any, issuing five walks and a wild pitch.

The last walk, to EJ Andrews Jr., forced in the winning run.

“It’s a unique situation where we kind of get up early and then fall behind. With this team, it never feels like we’re out,” Andrews said. “I just watching the at-bats before, just being selective, knowing that he had to come to me in that situation, and just trusting what I had.”

Simon threw 23 pitches – just three strikes.

Eaton struck out eight over seven innings and allowed one run – a solo homer to Cole Foster with two down in the seventh. He gave up five hits and a walk, and threw 61 of his 94 pitches for strikes, lowering his ERA for the season to 3.15.

“It’s just about following a routine, each and every day,” Eaton said. “I’m just going out there and competing for the guys, making sure that I compete to the best of my ability and make sure we come out and get a win, just like we did today.”

“This is his first full season (in the organization) and they’re not used to the duration and the grind of everyday routines,” Indians pitching coach Blaine Beatty said. “So, we’re really sensitive to that part of it. We’re just trying to get him to the finish line.”

The Indians didn’t generate an overwhelming amount of offense to back Eaton, but they did take advantage of the strong breeze to left field.

Caleb Hobson led off the bottom of the first with a double down the left-field line, went to third on a groundout and scored on Aidan Longwell’s long flyout.

With one down in the third, Andrews lofted a high fly ball down the line in left that went well over the netting for his third home run of the season and gave the Indians (11-6) a 2-0 lead.

“I was just kind of on time for a fastball – just caught it early,” Andrews said. “Lucky that the wind was blowing today too, so that kind of helped me out a little bit.”

Cole Messina made it 3-0 with a solo homer to left-center, his sixth of the season, leading off the fifth.

Eaton had no trouble getting the first two outs of the seventh, but he left a 2-1 fastball over the plate and Foster dropped it into the netting above the fence in left-center to put the Emeralds (13-3) on the board. Eaton retired seven of the last eight batters he faced.

“Watching him grow to this point in the season, the development and the poise and the mound presence that he had going through seven innings today was phenomenal,” Beatty said. “This guy continues to grow, and I definitely see him helping us down the road in the major leagues.”

Reliever Luke Taggert replaced Eaton and got into hot water in the eighth. He gave up a leadoff single and double, then battled Zane Zielinski to a full count before a walk to load the bases. Taggert did the same with Dayson Croees before walking him to force in the tying run.

It was Taggert’s 10th appearance of the season, and he has pitched in just 37 games over the past five seasons due to many injuries.

“I know it’s frustrating for him, because he wants to be ‘that guy,’ and he is ‘that guy,’ ” Beatty said. “It looked to me like he was trying to be a little meticulous with his execution. He wasn’t missing by much.”

Indians manager Robinson Cancel replaced Taggert with Bryson Hammer, who balked on his first pitch to put the Emeralds up 4-3. He walked Foster to load the bases again but bounced back to strike out Luke Shliger to end the inning.