Spokane Indians eliminated from first-half title chase, Vancouver wins ninth straight 6-1

VANCOUVER, B.C. – If the Spokane Indians are to defend their Northwest League title this season, they’ll have to come through the back door.

The Indians, who started the week one game out of first place, lost their fifth in a row Saturday and were eliminated from the first-half title chase with four games to go.

Vancouver starting pitcher Fernando Perez tossed six strong innings and the Canadians beat the Indians 6-1 in the fifth of a six-game series at Nat Bailey Stadium.

Perez (4-3) allowed one run on six hits, striking out five and walking one.

First-place Vancouver (34-28) tied its franchise record with its ninth consecutive win – and 17th in the past 19 games.

The Indians (29-33) opened the scoring in the third inning when Charlie Condon singled and came around on Aidan Longwell’s double.

The Canadians answered in the bottom half. Arjun Nimmala singled and scored on Cutter Coffey’s double, then Aaron Parker reached on an infield single to put runners at the corners. Eddie Micheletti Jr. singled to score Coffey, and Jackson Hornung walked to load the bases.

That brought up Je’Von Ward, the league’s leader in walks, who drew a walk on the ninth pitch of the at-bat to force in a run.

Hornung hit a solo homer in the fifth – his third of the season for a 4-1 advantage. In the sixth, Nimmala tripled and beat the throw home on Coffey’s grounder for a 5-1 lead. A second run scored on Jean Perez’s throwing error to make it 6-1.

The Indians had base runners in each of the fifth through ninth innings but went 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position and left 12 on base.

Spokane starting pitcher Konner Eaton (3-4) gave up four runs on seven hits, walking five over 42/3 innings.

The series concludes Sunday at 1:05 p.m.