Late grand slam dooms Spokane Indians, drop series finale to Everett 10-5

After getting down early, the Spokane Indians used three home runs through the middle innings to even things up in the fifth.

But what the long ball provided, it also took away.

Eighth-place hitter Dariel Gomez hit a grand slam in the seventh inning and the Everett AquaSox beat the Indians 10-5 to split the six-game High-A Northwest League series at Avista Stadium on Sunday.

Despite the loss, the Indians (24-19) have won eight of their last 12 games overall.

Zac Veen, Robby Martin Jr and Colin Simpson homered for the Indians.

Luke Taggert came on in relief for Anderson Bido with two on and no outs in the seventh. He got an out on a fielder’s choice, then a single by Victor Labrada loaded the bases.

Gomez, hitting .213 on the season, smacked a 1-0 pitch over the 365 mark in left field to clear the bases.

Everett (19-24) got going early, hanging three against Indians starter Andrew Quezada in the second. With one down, Trent Tingelstad’s double to the right field corner plated Justin Lavey from first. Gomez walked then Myles Miller and Tyler Keenan delivered consecutive run-scoring singles.

Quezada got Seattle Mariners’ top prospect Noelvi Marte to bounce into a 4-3 double play to end the damage.

Veen put the Indians on the board in the third with a two-run homer to left, his fifth. Grant Lavigne followed with a double and scored on single by Julio Carreras.

Everett loaded the bases against Quezada in the fourth and was lifted in favor of Anderson Pilar, who promptly allowed a two-run double to Marte to make it 5-3.

Quezada allowed five runs, three earned, on four hits and four walks over 32/3 innings.

Martin trimmed the deficit to one with a solo homer to lead off the bottom half, then Simpson went deep in the fifth to tie it, his team-leading seventh.

Tough day in blue

In the bottom of the first, Simpson drove one to the wall in left center, where it looked like Spencer Packard made the catch crashing into the wall. As Packard crumpled at the base of the wall the ball came out and base umpire Guillermo Rodriguez ruled that Packard failed to make the catch.

Simpson, who had stopped at second because of the “catch,” raced around third towards home. He looked to be safe on a play at the plate, but home plate umpire Zee Zdenek ruled him out despite a protest by Indians manager Scott Little .

Little was ejected in the fourth inning, arguing a pitch by Anderson Pilar to Packard which appeared to be right over the center of the plate but was called a ball by Zdenek.

Pilar eventually got Packard to ground to first to end the inning and leave the bases loaded.