Spokane Indians bullpen fails to hold late lead, Hillsboro takes series opener 5-2

If the Spokane Indians have any chance to catch first-place Eugene – which enjoyed a seven-game lead at the start of play with 36 games left – for the second-half title and a spot in the Northwest League championship series, they’ll have to take advantage of every opportunity down the stretch.

That starts this week with a six-game series against the team with the worst second-half record, the Hillsboro Hops.

The Indians led Tuesday’s opener for much of the game, but the bullpen faltered and the hill got a little higher to climb.

Hillsboro scored in each of the seventh, eighth and ninth innings – against three relievers – and the Indians lost 5-2 at Avista Stadium.

After this week’s series with Hillsboro, the Indians (16-15) travel to Eugene (23-7) for six games. The two teams also face each other in the final week of the regular season, Sept. 2-7, in Eugene.

The Indians jumped on Hillsboro starter Ashton Izzi in the first inning. Andy Perez led off with a double, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on Aidan Longwell’s one-out single. With two down, Longwell stole second, then scored on Blake Wright’s double.

The Hops (9-22) halved their deficit in the second when Cristofer Torin singled and scored on Angel Ortiz’s double.

It stayed that way until the seventh. Torin led off with a single against Indians reliever Alan Perdomo and went to second on a balk. Ortiz followed with a liner down the left-field line, which bounced over the wall for a ground-rule double, allowing Torin to score to tie it.

The Hops took the lead in the next inning. With one down against reliever Bryson Hammer, Jansel Luis singled and Druw Jones tripled into the left-field corner, scoring Luis without a throw. Ben McLaughlin followed with a grounder to short, but Jones beat the throw home to make it 4-2.

Kenny Castillo added an insurance run in the ninth with his third home run of the season, a solo shot, off 27-year-old reliever Luke Taggert, who is trying to battle back this season after two-plus years of injury.

The series continues Wednesday at 6:35 p.m.

Transactions: The Indians announced a flurry of moves before the game. Pitchers Griffin Herring and Josh Grosz – both acquired by the Colorado Rockies in exchange for big league third baseman Ryan McMahon – were added to the roster.

Outfielder GJ Hill was placed on the injured list, and pitchers Austin Becker and Darius Perry were released outright.