Courtesy Vermont Lake Monsters

LOWELL, MA — Brett Siddall snapped a 2-2 tie with a leadoff home run in the top of the seventh inning as the Vermont Lake Monsters exploded for 10 runs over the final three innings to score a season-high 12 runs in a 12-6 New York-Penn League victory over the Lowell Spinners Saturday night at LeLecheur Park in the first of a three-game series to close out the 2015 season.

The leadoff homer for Siddall, who went 2-for-3 with two walks and two runs on the night, was the first of four runs for Vermont in the seventh to take a 6-2 lead. A pair of singles and a walk loaded the bases in the inning before a run-scoring passes ball, Skye Bolt RBI single and Trace Loehr RBI groundout. The Lake Monsters put the game out of reach in the eighth with five runs scored on a Ryan Howell two-run double and Bolt three-run double.

Chris Iriart, who knocked home Vermont’s first run of the game in the fourth with his 18th double of the season, added a solo home run in the ninth inning for a 12-4 Lake Monsters advantage. The homer was Iriart’s fifth of the season, tying him with Ryan Howell for the team lead, and increased his team-high RBI total to 45, tying for fifth-most in Vermont history and the most by a Lake Monster since 2005 when Francisco Plasencia had a team-record 56.

Bolt was 2-for-5 with four RBI and Iriart scored three runs, while Howell was 2-for-5 with two runs and his two-run double. Starter Chris Kohler allowed one run on two hits over the first three innings and reliever Heath Bowers (3-1) one run on three hits over the middle three innings to earn the win. Evan Manarino earned his first save, despite allowing four Spinner runs on five hits over the final three innings.

Josh Ockiney was 2-for-4 with two doubles and three RBI for the Spinners, while Tyler Spoon was 2-for-4 with one run, two doubles and an RBI. Daniel Gonzalez (3-3) was charged with four runs on six hits over four innings of relief to take the loss for Lowell (36-38), which lost for just the second time in 10 games against the Lake Monsters this season.

Vermont (32-41) needs one win in its final two games to finish with 33 victories for the fourth straight season (two defeats would give them 43 losses for the fourth conecutive year). The Lake Monsters will play the second of the three-game series at Lowell on Sunday at 3:05 pm before wrapping up the season with the finale on Monday at 1:05 pm.