Bladimir Restituyo hits inside-the-park homer, Spokane Indians drop Vancouver in series finale

They went out with a bang.

The last regular-season home game culminated with a postgame fireworks display, but the team put together a few blasts of their own in the fourth inning, and the bullpen made the lead hold up.

Bladimir Restituyo hit an inside-the-park home run, Mateo Gil followed with a solo shot and the Spokane Indians beat the Vancouver Canadians 4-3 in the finale of a seven-game High-A Northwest League series at Avista Stadium on Sunday.

The Indians (28-32) cling to hopes of catching Vancouver for a playoff spot. They trail the Canadians by 41/2 games with six to play in the overall season-record tiebreaker.

It was scoreless until the Indians’ half of the fourth. With one down, Restituyo hit a high fly ball that carried down the left field line. Left fielder Glenn Santiago tracked it to the wall and leapt to attempt the catch. The ball hit high off the wall and bounced past Santiago back toward the infield.

Restituyo flew around the bases, and manager Scott Little waved him home. The relay throw drew the catcher to the foul territory side of the plate, and Restituyo slid to the inside to narrowly avoid the tag. It went as Restituyo’s eighth home run of the season.

“He busted his butt,” Indians manager Scott Little said. “He had one earlier in the season where he didn’t hustle out of the box, and I took him out of the game. He was running hard from contact tonight. That’s all we ask of these kids is to learn from their mistakes. And he did.”

Two pitches later, Gil launched one over the wall to left center for a traditional homer, his sixth of the season, to make it 2-0. Later in the inning, Eddy Diaz drove one over Santiago’s head in the left-center gap for a two-run double and 4-0 lead.

The Canadians got to Indians starter Mason Green in the fifth. He issued a one-out walk, then back-to-back singles, the second of which by Jommer Hernandez plated a run. Another single loaded the bases, and a sacrifice fly by Dasan Brown made it 2-0.

Green got two outs in the sixth but following a walk to Miguel Hiraldo, Little made a call to the pen. Santiago hit an RBI double, and Hiraldo scored from first to close the book on Green.

Green allowed three runs on five hits and three walks with just one strikeout, throwing 49 of his 85 pitches for strikes.