Giants Put Lights Out On Tribe Everett Pours It On For 6-1 Nwl Victory
How much worse can it get?
The Spokane Indians were upstaged by two opponents Sunday night - the Everett Giants and Mother Nature.
The 6-1 loss to Everett before 3,608 at Seafirst Stadium wasn’t unexpected - the Indians (20-30) had lost six of seven to the Giants (23-27) this season. Jesus Ibarra led Sunday’s surge for Everett, sending Heath Murray’s changeup well over the 386-foot marker in left field for a 3-0 lead in the second inning.
“I knew (Murray) had a changeup and a fastball,” explained Ibarra. “He threw me a fastball the pitch before, so … I had it in my mind (he’d throw a changeup next).”
As impressive as Ibarra’s blast was, it didn’t stand a chance against what the weather had in store for the end of the eighth inning.
Forget the seventh-inning stretch. This was the eighth-inning onslaught. Moments after the Indians had surrendered 1-2-3 in the eighth, the lightning that had threatened in the distance started falling closer to Seafirst Stadium. Before long, the four banks of outfield lights flickered off, prompting a 30-minute “lightning delay” that sent most of the crowd for the exits.
Those who left didn’t miss much - Todd Wilson’s single for Everett was the only hit thereafter.
For Spokane, the game offered a microcosm of the season, offering the decent, the bad and the ugly.
First, the decent: Pete Bifone doubled to the right-field wall with two out in the first inning, the first of six Spokane hits.
The bad: Santiago Rivera, who had reached first base for taking a Pete Prater pitch on the hand, wasn’t running in time on Bifone’s double and didn’t make it past third.
The ugly: Adam Robson, the next batter, grounded out to end the inning.
Ibarra launched his homer in the next inning and the Giants were on their way.
With seven of Sunday’s starters hitting .222 or worse, the Indians were forced to take chances on the basepaths. It cost them in the third, when Jay Johnson led off with a double, only to be caught trying to steal third.
“I’ll take credit for that,” said Spokane manager Tye Waller. “We can’t hit, so we’re going to run.
“It may not be by the book, but I haven’t seen the book yet. If it means doing some things out of the ordinary to win, so be it.”
Everett went ahead 5-0 in the sixth, with Jeff Poor’s double scoring Chris Stasio and Don Denbow.
Spokane’s only run came in the seventh. Gary Matthews Jr. singled to center, scoring Mark Merila, who reached on an error.
The Giants and Indians close out the series tonight at 7:05.