Gabriel Hughes runs into trouble in fifth, Spokane Indians pounded by Everett 15-2
Spokane Indians starter Gabriel Hughes leaves Tuesday’s Northwest League game against Everett during the fifth inning. (KATHY PLONKA/THE SPOKESMAN-REVIE)
Spokane Indians starting pitcher Gabriel Hughes was on his way to his third quality start of the season Tuesday with four strong innings, though he needed 67 pitches to reach that point.
But that’s where the wheels fell off.
Hughes didn’t record an out in the fifth and when the inning eventually ended, 11 runs had crossed the plate.
Walking Cabrera hit a grand slam in the fifth and Jonatan Clase added a two-run shot – both after Hughes left the game – and the Everett AquaSox clobbered the Indians 15-2 to open a six-game Northwest League series at Avista Stadium.
Braxton Fulford homered, his third of the season, and outfielder Benny Montgomery extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a single in the ninth inning for the Indians (6-7).
Hughes gave up a run on three hits and a walk in the first four innings, striking out six of his first 12 batters. But it got ugly quickly in the fifth – the first six batters in the inning reached on three hits and three walks.
All told, the Colorado Rockies’ No. 6-ranked prospect allowed seven earned runs on six hits and four walks, raising his season ERA from 0.90 to 5.14.
“Obviously not my best start today,” Hughes said. “Good for the first couple innings and then just kind of had one of those innings where a lot of things fell apart. And that’s something I need to work on going forward. Not my best effort, but I’m looking forward to bouncing back next week.”
“(Hughes) didn’t pitch as bad as his line says, I know that,” Indians pitching coach Ryan Kibler said.
“Really good stuff, fastball and slider was there. Maybe got a little tired at the end, but just missed off the edges, up with his fastball. They were just missing.”
Everett’s James Parker led off the fifth with a grounder over the bag at third for a double. Blake Rambusch and Clase drew back-to-back walks to load the bases.
Seattle Mariners catching prospect Harry Ford found the hole for an RBI single, and Hughes walked in another run.
Tyler Locklear lofted a fly ball off the bottom of the wall that eluded left fielder Jordan Beck for a two-run single to put the AquaSox (9-6) up 5-0 and ended Hughes’ afternoon.
“That whole thing started with a foul ball, I think,” Kibler said of Parker’s double. “I saw chalk fly well in front of the bag.”
“Some things didn’t go our way – some bloop hits, you know, that contributed to the long inning,” Fulford added.
Hughes (1-1) ended up throwing 93 pitches, 57 for strikes. His previous high for pitches this season was 82, last week against Tri-City.
“I put myself in those situations and it wasn’t as sharp as I’d like to be today,” Hughes said. “I think there are a lot of things mentally, physically, just went wrong for me in that fifth inning. And again, it’s a learning process. It’s all about how I’m gonna respond to that next week.”
“I think Gabe didn’t have as much command as he had in the past couple of weeks,” Fulford said. “Stuff was still coming in hard and he was still throwing some good pitches, but it wasn’t as consistent as he had been previous weeks.”
Spokane’s Luis Amoroso entered in relief and allowed a single, balked to force in a run and hit a batter. Cabrera lined a homer to left-center to make it 10-0.
Three batters later, Clase lined a two-run homer to the caboose in right-center to make it 12-0. Amoroso allowed five runs on five hits in one inning .
Hughes struck out two and gave up a ground-ball single in the first inning. He fell into some bad luck in the second.
With one down, Axel Sanchez walked and stole second on a ball in the dirt on a swinging strike. Cabrera’s comebacker glanced off Hughes’ glove and past Nic Kent at second for an RBI single.
Hughes bounced back to strike out the side in the third and tossed a scoreless fourth before the trouble came.
“He just got into a bad streak there late with the pitch count getting up there for those late walks, and that’s about it,” Kibler said.
Everett starter Bernie Martinez (1-0) threw six innings and allowed one run on three hits, including Fulford’s homer in the fifth, for the win.
“Just a good ol’ hanging slider,” Fulford said. “Got my barrel to it, and you know, the rest is history.”