Aaron Schunk takes the winning run in 10th place, the Spokane Indians win the seventh place in a row
Aaron Schunk scored in the 10th inning due to a throwing error and the Spokane Indians defeated the Hillsboro Hops 8-7 in the fourth of a six-game High-A West series at Avista Stadium on Saturday.
[BOX SCORE courtesy MILB.com]
The Indians (49-44) extended their winning streak to seven games. Hillsboro (42-51) is in a six-game losing streak.
Tristin English defended Alex Andueza in the 10th inning, giving Hillsboro a 7-6 lead.
In the lower half, a wild pitch enabled freerunner Brenton Doyle to move up to third place and he met on a victim flight from Daniel Montano. Schunk got an infield single and Daniel Cope single to produce Isaac Collins.
Collins threw one in the middle and Cam Coursey got the strength second, but his throw at first was wild and Schunk rushed home with the winning urn.
Ryan Rolison, the first round pick of the Colorado Rockies in the 2018 draft, kicked off the Indians with a rehab assignment from Triple-A Albuquerque. Righty, 24, who is ranked No. 3 in the Rockies according to MLB.com, had surgery to remove his appendix in June.
Rolison gave the Indians five strong innings. He allowed two runs with four hits and two walks with three strikeouts. He threw 70 pitches, 48 for strikes.
Jack Blomgren drilled a two-run homer in the third inning, his second of the season, to give the Indians an early lead.
English returned the favor and delivered a shot from two runs over the midfield wall in the fourth round to tie him.
The Indians rallied for three in the fifth. Schunk led the inning with a home run, his fifth of the season. With runners on the corners, Ezequiel Tovar dropped a bunt and Collins dashed home. The third run was scored by Niko Decolati after a groundout.
Breiling Eusebio took over in sixth for Rolison and gave a home run with two outs and three runs to Blaze Alexander, his eighth of the season.
Eusebio allowed the bases to load on the seventh with no outs, but Stephen Jones retired the next three to make it through the inning unscathed.
The Indians loaded the bases two down in the eighth, but Collins landed on the second to end the inning.
Coursey hit a home run on the first pitch of the ninth inning to bring Hillsboro up one.
The Indians hung up two with two in the ninth and Doyle’s single to center Decolati with the tie run to force extras.