Spokane Indians starter Brody Brecht settles down after rocky start, Hillsboro wins 4-1 | NWL baseball

HILLSBORO, Ore. – Yassel Soler drove in two runs, including an insurance run in the eighth inning, and the Hillsboro Hops beat the Spokane Indians 4-1 in the second of a six-game High-A Northwest League series Wednesday at Hillsboro Hops Ballpark .

The Hops jumped on Indians starter Brody Brecht in the first inning. Slade Caldwell and Avery Owusu-Asiedu both drew walks against Brecht, the Colorado Rockies No. 8 prospect, according to MLB.com. Trent Youngblood reached on a bunt single that Brecht fielded, but the pitcher lost his footing on the new turf in the second game of Hillsboro’s new stadium.

After a mound visit from pitching coach Blaine Beatty, Soler lined an RBI single to right, then Brecht uncorked a wild pitch to bring in another run. With two down and runners at second and third, Brady Counsel bounced out to short to bring in the third run of the inning.

Brecht retired the next six Hops before giving way to left Stu Flesland III (Mt. Spokane) in the third. Flesland retired eight straight, snapped by Youngblood’s double in the sixth, but Flesland stranded two in the inning to keep it 3-0.

Flesland went 31/3 shutout innings and allowed one hit and one walk with four strikeouts for the Indians (3-2).

With one down in the seventh, Indians catcher Alan Espinal doubled to the left center wall and scored on a two-out triple off the right field wall by Jacob Humphrey.

Ethan Hedges reached on a bunt single with one down in the eighth, and went to second on a throwing error by reliever Jonatan Bernal. But Hedges was thrown out by catcher Alberto Barriga on a back pick.

The Hops (1-4) put runners at second and third with two outs in the bottom half and Soler’s grounder to second plated Owusu-Asiedu to make it 4-1.

Game 3 of the series is Thursday at 6:35 p.m.