Gabriel Hughes solid over five innings, Spokane Indians rally in 10th to edge Tri-City

PASCO – After his near-perfect debut last week, former Gonzaga pitcher Gabriel Hughes saw some adversity on Tuesday – some of it his doing, and some of it on the defense behind him.

Hughes struck out seven over five innings and left with a lead but had to settle for a no-decision. After Tri-City scored twice in the bottom of the ninth inning against reliever Angel Chivilli, Spokane pinch-runner Braiden Ward scored in the 10th on a wild pitch to break the tie and help the Indians win the opener of a Northwest League series 6-5 in 10 innings.

Evan Justice pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the 10th for the win.

“Justice was excellent coming in with the game on the line like that and throwing fastballs, high velocity fastballs with a runner on second base like that,” Indians pitching coach Ryan Kibler said.

Hughes allowed two runs, one earned, on three hits and two walks. He threw 82 pitches, 47 for strikes. There were two errors and a misjudged fly ball behind him that added to the challenge.

“I wasn’t as sharp as last week,” Hughes said. “And you know, I had some things to work through in the first couple innings. But by the time fourth, fifth (innings) rolled around, I felt like I’d settled down and got a lot of quick outs. So, I was really happy to be able to make that adjustment mid-game.”

“That was pretty impressive how he had to persevere through some adversity,” Kibler said. “The first few innings there was some traffic that you wouldn’t expect to be out there on the basepaths and he just kept making pitches. And then he got better as he went.” 

Most scouting reports heading into last year’s MLB draft called Hughes a potential “fast mover” through the system of whichever team drafted him.

Part of that was because he was drafted after his third season with Gonzaga and went 8-3 with a 3.67 ERA with 138 strikeouts over 98 innings. The other part was his three effective pitches with a fastball in the mid-90s, composure on the mound and a “bulldog” mentality.

Hughes isn’t concerned with his trajectory.

“That’s not on my mind at all,” Hughes said. “I’m out here to do a job every single day. I’m showing up and I’m giving the best that I can as much as I can every single day. So that’s the last thing on my mind.”

Hughes hit 98 mph retiring leadoff hitter D’Shawn Knowles, but he allowed his first hit of the season with one down in the first inning on a routine single to left center by Adrian Placencia. It got by left fielder Juan Guerrero for a two-base error and Placencia ended up at third.

The next batter, Arol Vera, lofted a fly deep enough in left to score the runner.

Alexander Ramirez led off the second against Hughes with a triple to the left-center gap and scored when right fielder Yanquiel Fernandez lost a routine fly ball by Joe Stewart in the sun that went for a double.

“First start I didn’t have any base runners. This time I had a lot more and it’s an adjustment,” Hughes said. “First time having to work out of the stretch basically all year. But just going out and doing the same thing, whether windup, stretch, runners on base, runners not on base, trying to stay consistent regardless what’s happened behind me on the basepaths.”

“It’s more than just big stuff. It’s compete,” Kibler said. “Persevere. Handled the adversity, kept his emotions under control when he could easily get very frustrated, and he didn’t.”

The Indians (4-3) loaded the bases with no outs in the third on consecutive singles by Adael Amador, Benny Montgomery and Sterlin Thompson. Amador scored and the other runners moved up on a sacrifice fly to the left-field warning track by Fernandez.

Montgomery was thrown out at home on a grounder and Guerrero walked to load the bases again, but Jordan Beck – mired in a 1-for-22 slump to start the season – struck out to end the rally.

Tri-City (2-7) loaded the bases with one down in the bottom half on a throwing error by Zach Kokoska on a grounder to first and a pair of walks. Hughes came back to strike out Ramirez and Stewart bounced out to leave them loaded.

A two-run single by Thompson in the fourth, his third hit of the game, gave the Indians their first lead of the game at 3-2.

Tri-City tied it in the sixth off Joel Condreay on a walk, stolen base and RBI single by Osmy Gregorio.

In the ninth, Thompson hit a one-out double off the left field wall, Fernandez was walked intentionally and Braxton Fulford walked on five pitches. The first pitch to Guerrero was in the dirt and Thompson scored to put Spokane ahead 4-3. Guerrero lofted a fly to center to score Fernandez for a two-run lead.

Thompson went 4 for 5, extending his season-opening hitting streak to seven games. The 21-year-old third baseman is 15 for 28 (.536) this season.

The Dust Devils tied the game in the bottom half on a double by Knowles and a wild pitch by Chivilli.