Jared Thomas ends pitcher’s duel with walk-off single, Spokane Indians edge Vancouver 1-0

The Northwest League is known as a “hitters league,” with several parks earning the reputation as offensive havens. But on Thursday at Avista Stadium, an old-fashioned pitcher’s duel broke out.

And the home team won it with a walk-off.

Jared Thomas knocked in the game’s only run with a two-out single to the opposite field in the bottom of the ninth inning and the Spokane Indians edged the Vancouver Canadians 1-0 in the third of a six-game High-A Northwest League game at Avista Stadium on Thursday.

Thomas had three of Spokane’s nine hits and is batting .348 through six games.

Jesus Bugarin led off the ninth inning with a double into the left-field corner. EJ Andrews couldn’t get a sacrifice down and struck out, then Tevin Tucker grounded to second, moving Bugarin to third.

That brought up Thomas, who hit a soft liner to left that fell in for a base hit. Bugarin jogged home with the winning run.

Left-handed starting pitcher Michael Prosecky was sharp for the Indians (3-3), tossing four scoreless innings. He allowed one hit and two walks and struck out seven, throwing 44 of his 71 pitches for strikes.

The only time Prosecky faced any real threat was in the fourth, when back-to-back two-out infield errors put runners at first and second, but Prosecky got Alex Stone to line out to right to end the inning.

Spokane’s Braxton Hyde took over in the fifth and posted a 1-2-3 inning. He allowed Victor Arias’ two-out double in the sixth, but Brennan Orf grounded to first for the third out.

Indians shortstop Andy Perez led off the bottom of the sixth with a line-drive single to left and Aidan Longwell followed with a walk. Skyler Messinger’s ground ball got through the hole on the left side to load the bases, but catcher Cole Messina grounded to third and the Canadians (3-3) forced Perez at home.

Bugarin lined to first, where Orf made a diving catch to save a couple of runs, and Andrews bounced out to second to end it.

Toronto Blue Jays No. 1 prospect Arjun Nimmala hit a one-out double off reliever Davis Palermo in the eighth, but Palermo got a pop out then struck out Arias to get out of the jam.

Welinton Herrera, who struck out five consecutive batters in his first appearance of the season on Sunday, gave up a hit and a walk to his first two batters in the ninth. But he blew away Stone on a 99-mph fastball, Carter Cunningham flied to center and Jacob Wetzel took a called strike three to keep it scoreless.