Two-run eighth inning sends Spokane Indians over Vancouver 9-7

When a starting pitcher doesn’t have his best stuff, the whole team wants to pick him up. Sometimes it works out better than others. And sometimes it can take a little bit of weirdness to get the job done.

The Spokane Indians broke a late tie with a two-run eighth inning and beat the Vancouver Canadians 9-7 in the second of a six-game High-A Northwest League series at Avista Stadium on Wednesday.

Skyler Messinger and Braylen Wimmer homered for the Indians (15-14). Wimmer finished 2 for 4 with two runs and three RBIs, and Jared Thomas had three hits, three runs and two of the Indians’ five stolen bases.

Adrian Pinto went 3 for 4 with two home runs and three RBIs for Vancouver (13-16).

The Indians were tied at 7 after seven innings, then were gifted a run in the eighth.

With one down, Tevin Tucker walked and stole second. Canadians reliever Chay Yeager then balked twice in the space of four pitches, bringing Tucker around to score.

The Indians added another when Thomas walked with two down, stole second and scored on Wimmer’s single – ending Yeager’s short outing.

Left-handed reliever Welinton Herrera pumped 99-mph fastballs in a 1-2-3 ninth with a pair of strikeouts for his seventh save.

Indians starting pitcher McCade Brown entered play having allowed just one earned run in his first five starts, but he struggled through 41/3 innings, allowing four runs on six hits, walking four and striking out six. He threw 84 pitches, 49 for strikes.

Pinto greeted Brown’s first pitch of the game rudely, depositing it well over the left-field fence for his sixth home run of the season. Brown came back to retire the next three in order, two via strikeout.

The Indians got the run back in the bottom half off Vancouver starter Kevin Miranda. Thomas led off with a single, stole second and scored on Aidan Longwell’s double – his fourth extra-base hit in the past two games.

Brown got in hot water again in the second, issuing a one-out walk before Eddie Micheletti’s base hit. A wild pitch allowed both runners to move up a bag, but he struck out Alex Stone and coaxed a ground ball from Je’Von Ward to end the inning unscathed.

The bottom of the Indians’ order generated a run in the bottom half. EJ Andrews Jr. singled up the middle, stole second and scored on Caleb Hobson’s soft line-drive single. Hobson promptly stole second and scored on Thomas’ double into the right-field corner to make it 3-1.

But there was more trouble for Brown in the third. He walked Pinto and with one down and Victor Arias singled. Sean Keys followed with a sinking liner to center, and Pinto was ruled safe at home on a close play.

Messinger got that run back with one swing, leading the fourth off with a fly ball into the netting above left field for his third homer of the season.

Brown put two on in the fifth and manager Robinson Cancel came out with the hook. Keys greeted reliever Stu Flesland (Mt. Spokane) with a bases-clearing double.

Thomas led off the bottom half with a single, then Wimmer crushed a long home run to left-center, his third of the season, for a 6-5 lead.

Pinto continued his hot streak, smacking a two-run homer off Flesland in the sixth.

The Indians tied it in the seventh. Wimmer walked, went to third on Longwell’s single and scored on Cole Messina’s sac fly.