Roynier Hernandez delivers walk-off single; Spokane Indians edge Tri-City 3-2 | NWL baseball

Spokane Indians infielder Roynier Hernandez has been playing well of late, so much so that manager Tom Sutaris moved him up recently near the top of the batting order.

Hernandez delivered for his skipper yet again on Wednesday.

Hernandez drove in the winning run with a two-out single in the bottom of the ninth inning and the Spokane Indians edged the Tri-City Dust Devils 3-2 in the second of a six-game High-A Northwest League series at Avista Stadium.

The Indians (11-18) have won two in a row against the Dust Devils (16-13) at home after a rough 3-9 road trip.

“It’s a lot different to play at home,” Hernandez said through bench coach Edgardo Lebron. “Everybody’s playing together right now, (pulling) from the same side, and the energy in the clubhouse is big right now.”

Hernandez finished 3-for-4 with two RBIs. In May, Hernandez is 9-for-18 with a homer, double, four RBIs and a stolen base. He’s hitting .268 overall with two homers and seven RBIs.

“I’m doing like the same job that I was trying to do in the bottom of the lineup,” he said. “Right now, I feel a lot of confidence at the plate, and happy with those results.”

With one down in the ninth, Kelvin Hidalgo doubled down the line in left field. Tevin Tucker struck out, but the lefty-swinging Hernandez lined the second pitch he saw from reliever Benny Thompson into the right field corner to plate Hidalgo without a throw.

“I was calm. I felt good,” Hernandez said. “I had been waiting all night long for that at-bat.”

Indians starter Jordy Vargas was strong over 52/3 innings. The 22-year-old righty allowed one run – after he had left the game – on three hits and four walks with four strikeouts.

Pitching coach Blaine Beatty was very pleased with Vargas’ effort.

“He came out today, had a little more energy than his last outing, and that’s what I wanted to see out of him, kind of push it a little bit and get after it. He did a great job tonight, and just worked deep into the game.”

The Indians jumped on Tri-City starter Zach Redner for two runs in the first inning. Tevin Tucker drew a lead-off walk, stole second and scored on a single by Hernandez.

Jacob Humphrey was hit by a pitch, then Hernandez was picked off at second. Ethan Hedges reached on an error and Humphrey scored on a sacrifice fly by Alan Espinal to make it 2-0.

Vargas cruised until the sixth. He issued a one-out walk to Jake Munroe, then cleanup hitter Matt Coutney laced a single to put runners on the corners.

Vargas came back to strike out Randy De Jesus, then at 89 pitches he was lifted in favor of Bryan Perez.

“It’s always pitch counts, and we’re careful with them,” Beatty said of lifting Vargas after the strikeout. “It’s to protect them. Once they develop and they get to the next level, they’ll increase that. But the mentality is, if you want to go deeper and you want to get deeper into a game with the amount of pitches, be more efficient, and don’t walk guys.”

Perez uncorked a wild pitch, allowing a run to score, then he hit Capri Ortiz to put two on. But he coaxed a routine ground ball to second to avoid further damage.

Perez had more troubles in the seventh, allowing a double then three consecutive walks to force in the game-tying run. Righty Fisher Jameson entered and got a pop-up for the second out and struck out De Jesus to end the threat.

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