Colorado’s Top Draft Pick Shuts Down Indians Portland’s Fine Pitching Gets The Best Of Spokane For Second Straight Night

The Colorado Rockies pitching staff gave up 18 runs in their last two games to the Cincinnati Reds. Their Class A farm club in Portland has given up just one to the Spokane Indians.

Now no one will ever confuse Indians hitters with those of the Reds, but given the lack of horses in the bullpen in the Mile High city, well, some of these Portland pitchers may find themselves climbing the minor-league ladder a little sooner than expected.

In Portland’s 6-0 win against Spokane Sunday night at Seafirst Stadium, Jake Westbrook, the Rockies’ No. 1 draft pick this year, pitched six innings of two-hit ball before Jason Romine came on in relief to get the win.

Romine, who moved his record to 3-1, graduated from Omak High School in 1993. In pitching the last three innings Sunday, he gave up just one hit while striking out four.

“I haven’t had too much luck in this place,” Romine said after the game. “It was nice to finally do something right.

During his days at Omak High, Romine pitched at Seafirst Stadium in his sophomore and senior seasons, when his teams finished fourth in the state playoffs without winning a game.

Meanwhile, at the plate, the smallest of the Rockies once again managed to break a close game wide open.

Doug Livingston’s grand-slam home run off Spokane reliever Aaron Lineweaver in the eighth inning provided the game-winning runs for the Rockies.

The blast negated the excellent pitching performance of Spokane starter Scott Mullen whose record fell to 4-4.

In the eighth, Mullen walked two of the first three batters before being removed after 93 pitches. Lineweaver walked the first batter he faced before giving up the homer to Livingston. Lineweaver was ahead in the count 0-2 before throwing an off-speed pitch right down the middle of the plate.

“It was deja vu out of the bullpen again,” Indians manager Bob Herold said. “He (Lineweaver) tried to jam him inside but didn’t get it in far enough.”

Lineweaver walked the next batter, was removed by Herold for Chad Rogriguez. Rodriguez proceeded to give up a two-run homer to Mark Hamlin to make the score 6-0.

Hamlin fell behind in the count to 3-1. Unlike Lineweaver, he didn’t have much a choice except to throw inside the strike zone. Hamlin sent the pitch to almost the exact place Livingston hit his ball.

“We wasted a great pitching performance tonight,” Herold said. “When a guy gives you that kind of an effort you’ve got to protect it.’

Spokane fell to 26-33 and Portland improved its mark to 25-34.

As for Livingston, he entered the game fourth in Northwest League batting with a .314 average. He was just 1 for 4 on Sunday, but that one hit was all the Rockies needed.

“I figured he (Lineweaver) was going to throw away from me,” Livingston presumed. “I was surprised to see the ball come in where it was.”

And for the second night in a row, Herold walked away from the field in awe of the 5-foot-8, 160-pound second baseman.

“He’s a gamer,” Herold said of Livingston. “He’s there for one reason - to beat you.”

Livingston’s home run was his third of the season and tied with three other Rockies for the second place on the team. Hamlin’s fourth homer gave him the team lead.

Spokane did not do much at the plate. The Indians had only six baserunners. They stranded five of them and the other was eliminated by a double play.

In the bottom of the third, Spokane ended the inning with Eric Sees left at third base. In the top of the sixth, the Indians left Jeremy Giambi hanging at third.

Giambi was the lone bright spot at the plate for Spokane. Although the Indians mustered just three hits against Westbrook and Romine, Giambi went 2 for 3. As a unit, the Indians were 3 for 30 on the night.

Portland went just 4 for 30, but two of the four hits were home runs.

In tonight’s series finale, scheduled to start at 7:05 at Seafirst, the Indians will come up against John Nicholson, the Colorado Rockies’ No. 2 draft pick.

Spokane is scheduled to start Enrique Calero, who has a record of 2-2 with an impressive 2.89 earned-run average.

, DataTimes