Indians Put Halt To Skid Villarreal Shuts Down Portland As Spokane Pulls Out 2-1 Victory

It was nice to see Spokane Indians pitcher Modesto Villarreal on the mound Monday night at Seafirst Stadium. Good things usually happen when he pitches.

Against the Northwest League South Division-leading Portland Rockies, the Indians snapped an eight-game losing streak with a 2-1 win in front of a crowd of 2,809.

After the game, the Spokane locker room had a pep to it that had been absent for some time. Spokane manager Al Pedrique and his team were very happy to get a win.

“Through this (losing streak), we’ve stayed positive and kept working hard,” Pedrique said. “The effort has been there all the time.

“I’ve never sensed any laziness from anybody. From Day One, I’ve just asked them to give me everything. I don’t care if we lose by 20 runs, just give 100 percent.”

Maybe giving 105 percent for the Indians was Villarreal.

Before he left the game in the seventh inning, and the Indians clinging to a 2-0 lead with one out, Villarreal gave up just four hits and struck out four.

Villarreal’s third win of the season (3-1) accounts for slightly more than 20 percent of all Spokane’s victories.

“That’s the kind of outing we needed from Modesto,” Pedrique said. “All game long he was ahead of the batters. He came out aggressive and had his fastball and breaking ball working.”

Villarreal’s performance was all the more impressive considering the fact he received little in the way of run support.

Before Spokane’s Randy Paulin hit a two-run, two-out single giving the Indians a 2-0 lead in the sixth, the Indians stranded runners at third base twice.

So with that being the case, Spokane’s bullpen dug in.

Villarreal was replaced by Craig Sanders after he gave up a double to Marc Brzozski and walked Aaron Myers in the sixth.

Sanders immediately gave up a base hit to Elvis Jimenez to load the bases. Then, Spokane shortstop Mark Melito booted a routine ball hit by Jeff Twist that allowed Brzozski to score from third.

But Sanders bore down and Melito shook off his error. The next batter, Brett Elam, hit a shot right back at Melito, who fielded the ball cleanly and started a Spokane double play that ended Portland’s seventh.

In the eighth, Spokane’s Matt Saier entered after Sanders gave up a triple to Elvis Pena with one out. Saier walked Dave Feuerstein to put runners at the corners. But Saier responded by getting Blake Barthol to hit into a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning.

In the ninth, Saier came back to retire the side three-up, three-down. Two of the batters he struck out. The final out came when center fielder Dwayne Lewis made a diving catch to rob Jimenez of a hit.

In earning his first save of the season, in 15-1/3 inning pitched, Saier has struck out 24.

“That’s what you need from your bullpen,” Pedrique said. “Both Craig and Matt did great jobs of getting us out of jams.”

Spokane put a halt to its losing streak, snapped Portland’s five-game winning streak, and the Indians’ James Vida got a base hit to run his consecutive-game hitting streak to 14.

, DataTimes