Starter Blake Adams home debut spoiled by pen, Spokane Indians fall to Eugene 11-7

Blake Adams, a 13th-round pick of the Colorado Rockies in the 2022 MLB draft, made his second Northwest League start, and first at home, for the Spokane Indians since his promotion from Low-A Fresno.

The 22-year-old was solid on Wednesday in his Avista Stadium debut and turned a 7-4 lead over to the beleaguered Indians bullpen. The three-run lead didn’t last long.

Eugene rallied for three runs in the sixth inning and four in the eighth as the Emeralds beat the Indians 11-7.

The Indians fell to 32-26 and now trail Vancouver by one game in the first-half race with seven games left.

It was tied at 7-7 entering the eighth, and Indians manager Robinson Cancel called on reliever Juan Mejia.

With one down, Emeralds’ No. 9 hitter Edison Mora, hitting .150 for the season, cleared the short wall in right center field in front of the caboose for a solo homer.

Grant McCray singled, went to second on a balk and scored on a triple by Carter Howell. Victor Baricoto followed with an RBI single, and Adrian Sugastey doubled to put the Emeralds (29-30) up 11-7.

Adams went five innings plus two batters and allowed six runs – two after he left the game – on seven hits and four walks with three strikeouts. He threw 82 pitches, 52 for strikes.

Adams started off well enough in the first with a swinging strikeout of leadoff hitter McCray, but it went sideways quickly. Brett Auerbach followed with a double to the left-center gap, and Howell walked. Bericoto singled to left field, and the ball got under Juan Guerrero’s glove in the wet outfield grass and both runners scored.

Adael Amador led off the bottom half with his ninth home run of the season.

Eugene scored twice in the third on a groundout and sacrifice fly.

In the bottom half, Amador was hit by a pitch, went to third on a double by Benny Montgomery and scored on a groundout.

The Indians loaded the bases on a single and two walks with two down in the fifth. Eugene brought in right-hander Nick Morreale to face Jordan Beck, who drew a walk to force in a run.

That brought up Zach Kokoska, who drilled a 3-1 pitch the opposite way for a grand slam and give the Indians a 7-4 lead. The blast was his 12th home run of the season.

Adams gave up a double and walk to start the sixth and was relieved by Keegan James. Santos greeted James with an RBI double off the right-field wall. Later, a wild pitch on a walk to McCray allowed another run to cross the plate.

McCray stole second and the low throw got away from Amador, and Santos scored without a throw to tie it 7-7.

Zags debut: Eugene relief pitcher William Kempner, a 2022 third-round pick of the San Francisco Giants out of Gonzaga, entered the game in the sixth inning for his High-A debut. Kempner, 21, went 1-3 with a 4.67 ERA over 27 innings for Low-A San Jose this season. He gave up a double and walk in one scoreless inning.