Jairo Pomares knocks in four, Eugene wins five of six over Spokane Indians

From staff reports

A showdown between the top two teams in the Northwest League looked like anything but over the past six days.

Jairo Pomares set the tone with a first-inning two-run homer then knocked in two more in a four-run seventh and the Eugene Emeralds claimed a 7-2 win over the visiting Spokane Indians at PK Park on Sunday.

Eugene (31-21) won five out of six in the series. The Indians (28-27) fell 4 1/2 games behind the Ems with nine games remaining in the first half.

Pomares’ homer, his eighth of the season, came off Indians starter Andrew Quezada. The 24-year-old righty settled down after that and went five innings, allowing four hits and three walks with four strikeouts. 

Spokane tied it in the fourth. Braiden Ward was hit by a pitch, stole second, went to third on a balk and scored on a single by Zac Veen. 

Veen stole second and third and when catcher Patrick Bailey’s throw went into the outfield Veen scampered home to knot the score. 

Veen leads the circuit with 22 steals in 23 attempts.

Eugene took the lead in the sixth on a bases loaded sacrifice fly, then the Ems rallied in the seventh off reliever Anderson Pilar.

Pomares’ ground-rule double plated a pair, then Bailey hit an RBI single. Carter Aldrete capped the scoring with a run-scoring double.

The Indians batted just .223 over the six games and allowed 20 of 37 total runs in the series in the sixth inning or later. Spokane is 11-19 on the road this season.

The Indians start a 12-game homestand on Tuesday with a six-game series against the Hillsboro Hops (26-29).