Portland’s Westbrook Aces Indians For Second Time In 6 Days, Wins 3-0

Jake Westbrook must consider the Northwest League a breeze after two outings against the Spokane Indians.

Westbrook (1-0) pitched seven shutout innings Friday in the Portland Rockies’ 3-0 victory at crowded Civic Stadium.

The right-hander, Colorado’s first selection in June’s amateur draft, hurled six shutout innings against Spokane last Sunday, in his NWL debut.

Westbrook, who began the year with Colorado’s rookie league team in Arizona, delighted a crowd of 11,307 on baseball cap night. He also sent the fans home quickly: The game lasted 2 hours and 11 minutes.

Spokane wasted several chances against Westbrook, most notably in the fifth. The Indians had three singles in the inning but were stopped by a double play and inning-ending strikeout.

The Indians’ Scott Harp led off the seventh with a triple but was stranded. The Tribe also left runners standing at second in the first, second and ninth.

Portland’s Aaron Myers went 4 for 4 and came up big in two-out situations. He had a two-out double and scored on Mark Hamlin’s single in the first, then stroked a two-out RBI single off reliever Donald Quigley in the eighth.

Spokane starter Scott Mullen (4-5) allowed five hits in seven innings, including Doug Livingston’s one-out solo home run in the third. Mullen had to leave after seven because he was stepped on while making a play at first base.

Mullen pitched against Westbrook last Sunday and received no run support in 7-1/3 innings.

Spokane completed its schedule against South Division teams with a 15-17 mark. The Indians return home at 7:05 tonight for the opener of a two-game series with Yakima. Spokane’s Enrique Calero (3-2) is set to start.