Spokane Indians muster little attack in 8-0 loss to Hillsboro

Maybe it was the humidity. Maybe it was the mundanity of a long minor league season. Maybe it was the opposing pitching. Regardless, the Spokane Indians did not muster any semblance of an offensive attack Thursday.

The Hillsboro Hops had no such problem.

The Hops homered twice in a four-run fifth inning and beat the Indians 8-0 in the third of a six-game High-A Northwest League series at Avista Stadium on Thursday.

The Indians managed four base hits and two walks – facing just 109 pitches – from three Hops pitchers in a game that lasted just 2 hours, 12 minutes.

The game marked the Indians debut of starting pitcher Josh Grosz, acquired by the Colorado Rockies along with fellow pitcher Griffin Herring from the New York Yankees in exchange for MLB third baseman Ryan McMahon last week.

Grosz was strong through the first four innings, allowing one run. But the 22-year-old righty, a 2023 11th-round pick of the Yankees, ran out of gas quickly in the fifth.

Slade Caldwell led off the fifth with a walk and scored on Jansel Luis’ third triple of the season.

With one down, Angel Ortiz launched a long homer to right-center, his 10th of the season, that cleared the caboose and landed in the parking lot outside of the stadium.

Two batters later, Cristofer Torin clubbed a long homer to left, his second of the season, to put the Hops (10-23) up 5-0.

Grosz allowed eight hits in five innings, striking out two and walking two. He threw 87 pitches, 54 for strikes.

Hops starter Wilkin Paredes cruised through five shutout innings on just 51 pitches.

The Indians (17-16) changed pitchers for the sixth to Braxton Hyde, but it didn’t help. Adrian De Leon led off with a single, then Anderdson Rojas cleared the scoreboard in right-center for his first homer of the season.

The series continues Friday at 6:35 p.m.