Indians Slam A’S, 8-2

It was a grand exclamation point.

Mark Quinn’s grand slam home run in the top of the ninth inning emphatically made the point that the Spokane Indians didn’t plan to see a detour from their winning streak turn into a sidetrack.

After losing a six-game skein here the night before, the Indians got back on the winning track Monday night with an 8-2 Northwest League baseball victory over Southern Oregon.

Spokane’s seventh win in eight games while Everett lost to Boise 3-2 left the Indians alone in second place in the Northern Division with a 26-32 record, but still 12 games back of Bellingham.

The Indians took a 1-0 lead in the first inning off loser Chris Nelson (2-2). Pat Hallmark extended his hitting streak to seven games with a single, moved to second on a hit by Brett Schaffer and scored on a grounder by Quinn, who extended his hitting streak to 10 games with the slam.

Spokane starter Jeremy Williamson retired the first eight A’s batters, losing the streak on a home run by Jeff Devanon in the third.

Mark Melito hit a leadoff homer in the fifth inning for Spokane off Nelson as the Indians took the lead and never looked back.

In the sixth, Spokane got an RBI double from James Vida to make it 3-1, but the A’s pulled to within 3-2 in the bottom of the inning.

Williamson was replaced by Matt Sayer in the sixth. Sayer allowed one hit and one walk the rest of the game.

The Indians picked up an insurance run in the seventh when Melito singled and eventually scored on a wild pitch from Southern Oregon reliever Jason Holden with one away.

Spokane is 5-1 on this eight-game trip that continues here tonight.