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

Giambi Sparks Tribe To Laugher Spokane Wins First Baseball Opener In Five Years, Handling Everett 9-1 Thanks To Tricks Of Sixth-Round Pick

Jeremy Giambi pulled off three nifty tricks Tuesday during the Spokane Indians’ season opener.

Giambi led off the fourth inning with a double to break up a no-hitter by Everett starter Joe Mays.

In the sixth inning, with Mays attempting to protect a shutout, Giambi singled to center to tie the game at 1.

Most amazing, however, was Giambi’s at-bat in the seventh. Against left-handed reliever Brandon Nogowski, the left-handed outfielder never connected with the ball, but worked the count and watched as two Indians scored on passed balls.

The five-run seventh led Spokane to a 9-1 win in their Northwest League opener at Everett Memorial Stadium. Spokane had lost its four previous season openers.

“(Nogowski) started me off with a fastball down the middle,” said Giambi, a sixth-round draftee this month from Cal State-Fullerton. “Then he threw a couple of breaking balls that backfired on him.”

The AquaSox appeared in good shape halfway through as Mays, whose wife Melinda is about to deliver their first child, breezed along with no problems. Giambi, however, knew something would give.

“He started us all with fastballs the first time up,” Giambi said. “The second time, we knew what to expect.”

Spokane burst forth in the sixth, seventh and eighth, when it collected eight of its nine hits. Nine batters came to the plate in the innocent-appearing seventh, when two hits weren’t as important as a wild pitch on a third strike to Tony Miranda.

Miranda reached first on what would have been the third out, and Jason Layne followed with a two-run double.

“We just had first-game jitters in the first five innings,” Giambi said. “Then we got the ball rolling. They never did.”

Spokane starter Modesto Villarreal, also the Indians starter last year, earned the win with a strong effort, marred only by Rob Zachmann’s leadoff homer to deep left-center in the second.

“(Catcher Roman Escamilla) called for a slider, but I wanted to see if they could hit my fastball,” said Villarreal, 8-2 last year. “Now I know.”

Villarreal, recently sent down from Class A Lansing (Mich.), allowed one infield single in five innings during last year’s opener. He had a no-decision in a game the Indians lost 4-3.

“I pitched better last year (in the opener),” Villarreal said. “But this time I won.” Villarreal said he accepted the recent demotion, with grudging determination.

“I feel like last year was a good one for me,” the right-hander from Panama said. “I did what they expected me to do. They sent me here to get some confidence, and that’s what I’m going to do by working hard.”

Spokane reliever Jason Simontacchi pitched a perfect sixth and seventh as the AquaSox went the equivalent of five innings without a hit.

The three-game series continues tonight with 6-foot-7 right-hander Ethan Stein starting for Spokane against second-year pro Marty Weymouth, also a righty.

Notes

Spokane infielders Kenderick Moore and Kit Pellow, both University of Arkansas products, met for dinner after the game with Everett catcher David Skeels, also a former Razorback. … The game was delayed in the top of the seventh when a man competing in a between-innings promotion fell and injured himself while running in a giant inflatable doughnut. The crowd at first laughed at the fall, but medical personnel had to assist the man off the field and to an ambulance. … Ferris High graduate Matt Sachse has returned to Everett for the second year. The right-fielder hit .230 last year.

Indians 9, AquaSox 1

Spokane Everett ab r h bi ab r h bi Pitts cf 2 1 1 0 Vazquez ss 3 0 0 0 Harp cf 1 1 1 0 Figueroa 2b 4 0 1 0 Moore 2b 3 0 0 0 Burrows cf 3 0 1 0 Didion 2b 1 0 1 2 Zachmann 1b 4 1 1 1 Giambi rf 4 2 2 1 Sachse rf 3 0 0 0 Miranda dh 3 1 0 0 Cruz 3b 4 0 0 0 Layne 1b 4 1 1 2 Castro dh 4 0 1 0 Arrollado 1b 1 0 0 0 Steinmann c 2 0 0 0 Berger lf 4 0 1 1 Rowson lf 2 0 0 0 Taft 3b 4 0 0 0 Escamilla c 4 1 1 0 Sees ss 3 2 1 0 Totals 34 9 9 6 Totals 29 1 4 1 Spokane 000 002 520 - 9 Everett 010 000 000 - 1 E-Layne (1), Sees (1), Figueroa (1). DP-Spokane 3, Everett 2. LOB Spokane 6, Everett 6. 2B-Giambi (1), Layne (1), Figueroa (1), Burrows (1). 3B-Didion (1). HR-Zachmann (1). SB-Giambi (1). CS-Cruz (1). S-Pitts, Moore.

Spokane IP H R ER BB SO Villarreal W,1-0 5 3 1 1 2 2 Simontacchi 2 0 0 0 0 3 Quigley 1 1 0 0 2 1 Chapman 1 0 0 0 1 0 Everett IP H R ER BB SO Mays L,0-1 5-2/3 4 2 2 2 5 Clifford 1 1 2 2 0 1 Nogowski 0 1 3 3 2 1 Fitzgerald 1-1/3 3 2 2 0 2 Jiminez 1 0 0 0 1 0 Nogowski pitched to 4 batters in the 7th.

HBPby Clifford (Sees). WP-Villarreal, Mays 3, Nogowski 2, Fitzgerald. PB-Steinmann 2.

T-3:14. A-2,429.

, DataTimes