Braylen Wimmer delivers special Mother’s Day walk-off as Indians beat Canadians 4-3

Bottom of the 10th, tie game, two outs, runner on third, mom in attendance – it was a dream scenario on Sunday for Braylen Wimmer, an opportunity to create a lifelong memory. And the Spokane Indians’ second baseman didn’t let it go to waste.

Wimmer delivered the walk-off hit, a single sent high and deep to left-center field, as the Indians scored a 4-3 victory over the Vancouver Canadians on a thrilling Mother’s Day at Avista Stadium.

“She’s here just for the week and it timed out to be Mother’s Day, and before I went up there, I was thinking about doing this,” Wimmer said. “I was thinking about it a couple of innings before, like, ‘I might walk this off.’ And it just happened. That was pretty special.”

Wimmer got an ideal pitch on the 1-1 count, a low fastball, and “saw it out of his (Vancouver reliever Kai Peterson) hand coming right down the middle.” The result, a soaring hit that floated for an excruciatingly long while, then landed on the warning track, just beyond the reach of two sprinting Canadians outfielders, allowing Spokane baserunner Tevin Tucker to trot home comfortably.

“I knew it was going to carry a little, but I wasn’t quite sure,” Wimmer said. “Once I saw it land, I was just thrilled. As soon as I touched second, I looked up at my mom and threw a heart (sign), then just saw a bunch of dudes running at me.”

Wimmer’s teammates mobbed him, ripped his jersey off and doused him with Gatorade before allowing him to join his mother, Jill, who was visiting from Oklahoma City.

“It just ended up being perfect,” Wimmer said.

The 24-year-old Wimmer, who was selected by the Colorado Rockies in the eighth round of the 2023 MLB draft out of South Carolina, hit 3 for 5 to lead the Indians (17-16) to a 4-2 series win over the Canadians (15-18) – Spokane’s first Northwest League series win of the season.

The Indians’ offense was resilient in the later stages of the game after struggling to produce baserunners over the first six innings against Vancouver starter Juaron Watts-Brown, who surrendered two hits and struck out 10 with no walks.

“Watts-Brown is legit,” Wimmer said of the Toronto Blue Jays’ No. 16 overall prospect. “He had good stuff. We just had to grind him out and luckily our pitching staff kept us in it. Once we got to their bullpen, we started hitting.”

Vancouver loaded the bases with three consecutive singles to open the seventh inning against Spokane reliever Braxton Hyde, and the Canadians plated two of those baserunners on sacrifice flyouts to go up 2-0.

Spokane responded in the bottom half of the frame with Andy Perez’s deep two-run homer off the top of the caboose in right field.

The Canadians quickly recaptured the lead in the eighth with another sacrifice -fly RBI, but Spokane again answered in the bottom half, loading the bases with three straight singles to open the inning before Aidan Longwell’s RBI single. The Indians squandered a big scoring opportunity, however, leaving the bases loaded after a strikeout and a double play.

Spokane reliever Alan Perdomo wiggled out of a major jam in the top of the ninth, escaping a bases-loaded, one-out situation without allowing a run. The Canadians also stranded two runners in scoring position in the top of the 10th.

Neither lineup could produce runs, or much offense in general, throughout the first six innings as both teams got stellar efforts from their starters.

Spokane’s Konner Eaton had perhaps his best pro performance, setting new career highs in strikeouts (eight) and innings pitched (six). He allowed two hits and walked two, but didn’t surrender a run and never ran into any real trouble.

“That’s all you can do as a starter – go as deep as you can and give your team a chance,” said Eaton, a 22-year-old lefty who was drafted last year in the sixth round out of George Mason. “It’s just your job, and it was a lot of fun out there today. I was able to keep guys off balance, attack the zone and play within myself. We battled through it. That was a heckuva game, and shout out to Wimmer on that last hit. That was awesome.”

Spokane reliever Francis Rivera (1-1) earned the win with a clean final inning. The Indians totaled eight hits and struck out three times against four Vancouver relievers.

The Indians outhit Vancouver 10-8 in all. Spokane’s Jared Thomas batted 2 for 5 to extend his NWL-leading hit total to 42. The 21-year-old out of Texas has a hit in 27 of 33 games this year.