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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Indians Get Back On Track Resume Winning Ways With 11-8 Victory In Wind And Rain At Seafirst

(From Sports section, July 19, 1996): Brett Taft was pictured in Thursday’s photo of the Spokane Indians, not Kit Pellow.

My how the Spokane Indians’ fortunes have changed in a week.

At this time last week, Spokane was on the brink of playing out the rest of the season just to avoid a last-place finish.

Now the Indians find themselves in contention for a Northwest League North Division baseball title - and they will continue to be in the running if they play as well the rest of the season at home as they did Wednesday.

After Bellingham snapped Spokane’s four-game winning streak Tuesday, the Indians rebounded to an 11-8 victory as a crowd of 4,139 braved the rain and chilly wind at Seafirst Stadium.

It was just Spokane’s fifth win at home in 15 games (the Indians are 7-7 on the road).

“This has been ridiculous,” Spokane manager Bob Herold said of the Indians’ struggles at home. “The fans here are so super. They’ve treated us too nice.”

Spokane (12-17) moved within two games of second-place Bellingham (14-15). The Giants fell to 1-1/2 games behind first-place Everett (15-13), which was rained out at Yakima (11-17).

Whereas the Indians couldn’t get a clutch hit in a 3-2 loss on Tuesday, Spokane’s hot-hitting returned Wednesday.

Seven of Spokane’s 12 hits went for extra bases, including homers by Brandon Berger and Jeremy Giambi.

Berger’s homer, a three-run shot to left in the third inning, staked the Indians to a 4-1 lead they would never relinquish.

The Indians added two runs in the fourth, fifth and seventh innings to build a commanding 10-3 lead.

The Giants, however, jumped on reliever Jaime Burton in the eighth for four runs, cutting Spokane’s lead to 10-7. The big hit came on a two-run homer by Tony Zuniga.

Herold brought in Jason Simontacchi after Zuniga’s homer, and the pitcher promptly stopped the Giants’ comeback threat.

Simontacchi, who hadn’t pitched since June 28 because of tightness in his elbow, earned a save.

The Indians received another strong starting effort as left-hander Scott Mullen went six innings, allowing just two earned runs and three hits while striking out six.

Spokane ranked last in team pitching statistics entering Wednesday’s game.

“We’ve had two really great pitching performances the last two days which is hopefully a good sign because they’ve been struggling for a little bit,” said Berger, who took over the team lead in homers at eight.

Giambi led off the Indians’ first inning with an opposite-field homer that benefitted greatly from a strong right-to-left wind. Under calm conditions, Giambi’s stroke would have been a routine flyball to mid-left field.

“Before the game he (Giambi) told me he was going to go oppi (opposite field) bomb,” Berger said. “I told him he didn’t have any power to go that way. He proved me wrong. He was laughing all the way back to the dugout.”

Notes

Spokane will send right-hander Enrique Carlero (0-1, 1.09 ERA) against Bellingham right-hander Matt Wells (0-2, 11.37 ERA) tonight at 7:05 in the final game of the series. Herold said Carlero pitched well at Boise.

A fan could leave the ballpark tonight $100,000 richer. If an Indians player hits a grand slam a randomly selected fan will win $100,000. Six contestants have already been selected from sign-up boxes at local Exxon gas stations, but three more fans will be chosen at the game.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo