Courtesy Vermont Lake Monsters
LOWELL, MA — Trace Loehr tied the game with a three-double in the seventh inning, Seth Brown followed with an RBI triple for a 5-4 lead and Brett Siddall gave Vermont a 9-4 lead in the ninth inning with a grand slam home run as the Lake Monsters closed out the 2015 season with a 9-7 New York-Penn League victory over the Lowell Spinners on Monday afternoon at LeLecheur Park.
Vermont wraps up the 2015 season with an overall record of 33-42, marking the fourth straight year that the Lake Monsters have finished with 33 wins (Vermont had a 33-43 record in each of the past three years). The Lake Monsters played one fewer game this season because of a rain out at Connecticut on August 23rd where Vermont led 4-1 in the middle of fifth inning and were three outs from an official game).
Lowell took a 2-0 lead three batters into the bottom of the first on a Jeremy Rivera single, Chad De La Guerra RBI triple and Tyler Spoon RBI single off Dustin Driver, who then retired eight of the final 10 batters he faced in three innings. The Spinners added a pair of runs in the fifth on RBI singles from Carlos Tovar and Spoon off reliever Kevin Ferreras for a 4-1 lead.
The Lake Monsters loaded the bases in the seventh on a single, two-out error and a walk before Loehr lined a double down the leftfield line to clear the bases and tie the game. Loehr finished the season with at least one hit in 43 of his last 51 starts to raise his average from .161 to .264, while hitting .352 (19-for-54) with runners in scoring position for the year. After the game-tying double, Seth Brown followed with a line drive RBI triple to centerfield for a 5-4 lead.
Vermont again loaded the bases in the ninth inning on two singles and a walk before Brett Siddall drilled a grand slam home run to rightfield for a 9-4 advantage. The home run was the fourth of the year for Siddall and the fourth grand slam of the season for the Lake Monsters. The home run was also the 39th of the season for Vermont, fifth-most in team’s 22-year history and put the Lake Monsters one home run in front of Tri-City (38) for the 2015 league lead with one game remaining for the ValleyCats.
Siddall also had an RBI single in the fourth inning to give him five RBI for the game, the first five-RBI game for a Lake Monsters player since Ryon Healy on August 30, 2013 at Tri-City. Siddall’s RBI single scored Brown, who had earlier reached base on his team-leading 19th double and third-best in Vermont history. Siddall and Tom Gavitt both went 3-for-5, while Loehr and Brown both had two hits.
Ferreras (4-2) allowed two runs (one earned) on four hits over three innings to earn the win, while Tyler Painton tossed two scoreless innings before allowing a Trent Kemp one-out, three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning to cut the Spinners deficit to 9-7. James Naile came on to retire the final two Lowell batters to earn his team-leading sixth save of the year and close out the 2015 season.