The Spikes' only trip to Lowell, Mass. this season has seen a familiar trend the first two nights of their three-day stay.

A 65-minute rain delay kept the Spikes and Spinners from starting their suspended game from Tuesday night on time. Action resumed with the game tied at two in the bottom of the fourth.

Lowell's Jeff Natale blasted a walk-off solo home run in the bottom of the ninth to lift the Spinners to a 4-3 win and send the Spikes to their third straight loss last night at LeLacheur Park.

The Spikes continued their rampant hitting, knocking out 12 hits, but continued their season-long struggle of driving in runs, leaving nine runners on base.

Wilson Ortiz started the game for the Spikes and pitched 3.1 innings of four-hit baseball, allowing just one run.

In the bottom of the seventh, Natale gave the Spikes a glimpse of his clutch hitting capabilities by ripping a double to give the Spinners a 3-2 lead.

The Spikes showed their resiliency when Chris Simmons led off the ninth with a double. Pinch runner David Rubinstein got picked off trying to steal third. But later in the inning, shortstop Silvio Pena brought home Chad Rice on an RBI single.

But in the bottom half of the ninth frame, manager Brad Fischer elected to go with reliever Owen Brolsma. After retiring the first two batters of the inning, Brolsma got tagged with his first loss of the season after Natale sent his pitch high over the left field fence.

The Spikes and Spinner were scheduled to start the second game of their series at 9:40 last night.