Adael Amador fills up stat sheet, bullpen falters as Spokane Indians fall to Everett 10-7

Adael Amador was a late addition to the Spokane Indians’ roster, missing the first couple of weeks of the season due to a nagging injury. But ever since the Colorado Rockies’ No. 3 prospect joined the club, he has been making an impact.

Unfortunately, he can’t pitch.

Amador filled up the stat sheet, but the bullpen couldn’t hold a four-run lead in the ninth as the Everett AquaSox beat the Indians 10-7 on Saturday at Avista Stadium.

Everett scored four in the ninth off Juan Mejia, including a home run by Ben Ramirez and a two-run double by Harry Ford, and three more in the 10th off Tyler Ahearn.

“It was one of those nights, you know, when everything looks great and all of a sudden everything turns around,” Indians manager Robinson Cancel said.

Amador went 3 for 5 with a walk, two doubles, two RBIs, two stolen bases and three runs.

“It feels incredible,” Amador said through a translator. “I just want to thank God for putting me in this position to be able to get hits and pile them up.”

The 20-year-old made his High-A Northwest League debut on April 18 and has hit safely in nine of 10 games since. Last season for Low-A Fresno, he hit .292 with 15 homers, 57 RBIs and 26 stolen bases.

“I had him last year,” Cancel said. “I know he’s gonna swing the bat. The Amador we saw today is the kind of Amador I know.”

Amador feels like he’s getting in a groove after two weeks at the new level.

“It’s the same game, same game of baseball,” he said. “Guys here are a couple steps closer to the major leagues, they’re just throwing a little harder, have a little better stuff.”

Everett’s Jonatan Clase hit the fifth pitch of the game from Indians lefty starter Evan Shawver over the left-field fence for his NWL-leading seventh homer of the season.

Clase went 2 for 6 with a homer, double and two RBIs. In the five games of the series, he’s 10 for 24 with four homers, four doubles, seven RBIs and three stolen bases.

The Indians (8-9) got that back in the bottom half. Amador led off with a single, stole second and third and scored on a groundout.

Spokane loaded the bases with one down in the second and scored on Amador’s groundout. The Indians tacked on another in the third on Juan Guerrero’s one-out double, but they stranded two runners.

After the leadoff homer, Shawver cruised until the fourth, but he ran out of gas, allowing consecutive two-out singles to Tyler Locklear and Ben Ramirez, which ended his night. Reliever Joel Condreay struck out Hogan Windish to end the threat.

Shawver, in his first start of the season replacing Brayan Castillo (injured), went 3 ⅔ innings and allowed one run on three hits, with two walks and three strikeouts.

“That was what we were looking for. He gave us four solid innings,” Cancel said. “Unfortunately, in the end we just didn’t finish.”

Shawver didn’t know until Thursday he would be starting.

“It felt good to get back to my old ways,” he said. “Last year, I had had a starting role and got moved to the bullpen. So it was a good feeling going back and testing it out.”

Back-to-back doubles by Nic Kent and Amador scored a run in the fourth, and Amador scored on a fielder’s choice to make it 5-1.

After Everett (11-8) scored two in the top of the fifth off reliever Mason Green, Guerrero (3 for 4, two RBIs) answered with a solo homer in the bottom half to make it 6-3.

Sterlin Thompson added an RBI double in the sixth to score Amador for his third run of the game. It stayed that way until the ninth-inning bullpen implosion.