​June 28 — For the second consecutive game, a win came in extra innings, and for the second consecutive game, the home team walked off. Roynier Hernandez delivered an RBI single with two on in the 10th inning, lifting the Spokane Indians to a 3-2 victory over the Tri-City Dust Devils in the finale of their six-game High-A Northwest League series at Avista Stadium. The Indians improved to 5-4, winning three in a row and taking four of six from Tri-City this week. Each of the last three games was decided by one run, and none of the six games in the series was by more than three.
Indians manager Tom Sutaris lauded his club’s resilience: “None of these victories were easy, but the guys just kept battling and came out on top.” In the 10th, Hunter Mann retired the Dust Devils in order, and after an automatic runner, Kelvin Hidalgo, stood at second in the bottom half, Tommy Hopfe reached on a throwing error by reliever Nicolo Pinazzi, though Hidalgo had to hold. Both runners advanced on Pinazzi’s wild pitch, making it 2-0 before Hernandez’s next at-bat. Hernandez, who went 1-for-5 and is batting .306 (second in the league among qualifiers), lined the next pitch to left for a single, driving Hidalgo home and securing the win.
Sutaris praised Hernandez’s approach: “He’s the guy you want up with the game on the line… He puts the bat on the ball and is a great matchup for us.” He also highlighted Hernandez’s bat-to-ball skills and the value of players who can deliver in tough moments.
Lebarron Johnson Jr. was solid on the mound for Spokane, allowing one run on one hit and one walk with six strikeouts over six innings (76 pitches, 51 for strikes). “We wanted to take the series,” Johnson said, describing an aim to start the second half strong after a week of hard-fought battles. Sutaris added that Johnson’s fastball and mixing pitches, along with catcher Jack O’Dowd’s game-calling, helped set up the win.
Spokane got on the board in the first inning when Hopfe started with a triple into the right-center gap, and after two outs O’Dowd’s soft line-drive single brought Hopfe home. Johnson Jr. was perfect through the third until Capri Ortiz lined a full-count fastball over the left-center wall for a fifth homer of the season. Hopfe led off Spokane’s third inning with a single, and O’Dowd’s liner to right with two down looked for more, but the article cuts off before detailing the rest of that sequence.