Yujanyer Herrera make strong debut, Spokane Indians top Hillsboro 9-3 to split series

Not everyone who gets traded at the MLB trade deadline at the end of July is a household name. But that doesn’t mean they won’t have an impact in baseball – either down the road or in the middle of a second-half minor league pennant race.

The Spokane Indians introduced their newest acquisition on Sunday, and he acquitted himself like he’d been in the system all season long.

Starting pitcher Yujanyer Herrera provided five strong innings in his debut and the Indians beat the Hillsboro Hops 9-3 in the finale of a six-game Northwest League series at Avista Stadium.

The first-place Indians (25-11) won back-to-back games over the weekend to split the series with the Hops (16-20) and moved four games ahead of Vancouver in the second half. The Indians haven’t lost a series since May 12 in Hillsboro.

Indians center fielder GJ Hill hit two solo home runs, Bryant Betancourt added a two-run shot and Kyle Karros had three hits and two RBIs.

“Just another day at the office. But a really good day,” Hill joked. “This one was huge today, just kind of end on a high note and get some good vibes going into next week.”

Herrera, a 20-year-old acquired by the Colorado Rockies with fellow right-handed pitcher Bradley Blalock in exchange for MLB pitcher Nick Mears at the trade deadline, threw 50 of his 78 pitches for strikes and allowed three runs on five hits and one walk with seven strikeouts.

“We were kind of feeling it out a little bit. Looked at some of his numbers coming into today and wanted to keep him on a short leash,” Indians pitching coach Blaine Beatty said. “And really impressive stuff, man. He has an unbelievable sinker and a wipeout breaking ball and did a really nice job. He finished out a couple jams and just really impressive stuff today.”

Herrera struck out two in a 1-2-3 first inning. He put two on with one down in the second, but struck out catcher Gavin Logan then got a fly out to escape with no damage.

The Indians put a run up in the bottom half. With runners at the corners and a 3-2 count, Skyler Messenger started to steal second, but the pitch was ball four. Logan threw down to second anyway and the throw was into the runner and got away from shortstop Tommy Troy, allowing Jose Cordova to hustle home from third.

The Hops got to Herrera in the third. Three consecutive one-out hits lead to a run, and later Jose Fernandez’ bloop down the right field line got just past second baseman Jean Perez for a two-run single to make it 3-1.

Bryant Betancourt answered for the Indians with a two-run homer in the bottom half to tie it up. It was his 12th, moving him into a three-way tie for second in the league.

Herrera stranded a runner at third base in the fourth inning, then Hill gave the lead back to the Indians with a solo homer leading off the bottom half. Later in the inning, Perez walked, went to second on a grounder and scored on a single by Karros to make it 5-3.

Herrera put up another 1-2-3 in the fifth to complete his assignment.

With recent promotions for Chase Dollander and Sean Sullivan, Herrera joins a staff needing reinforcements for the stretch run and playoffs.

“We’ve backfilled really nice this year, whether it be trades or guys moving up from Fresno,” Beatty said. “They’ve been doing a good job down there and the guys had to step right in and fit right in with all these guys.”

“That’s kind of the beauty of this team,” Hill said. “It’s always next man up and everyone’s always ready to go.”

Hill hit his second homer of the day leading off the sixth, the Indians added two more in the seventh on an RBI single by Skyler Messinger and Karros ripped a run-scoring double in the eighth.

“He threw me a good pitch and I was ready for it,” Hill said of his second homer of the day and sixth of the season. “Had a pretty good swing on it.”

Tough day: After going 0 for 5 on Sunday and 3 for 23 in the series, leadoff hitter Cole Carrigg is 8 for 52 (.154) in his last 13 games. For the season, Carrigg is hitting .279 with 11 homers, 49 RBIs and 38 stolen bases.