Back-to-back homers lift AquaSox over Boise

EVERETT — On what had otherwise been a mistake-filled, frustrating outing for the AquaSox, everything changed in two pitches.

Frogs fans can thank Anthony Phillips and Matt Cerione for the did-that-just-happen turnaround.

On consecutive pitches in the seventh inning, Phillips and Cerione hit back-to-back home runs. The timely blasts helped lift Everett to a 7-5 victory against the Boise Hawks Wednesday in a Northwest League baseball game at Everett Memorial Stadium.

“That takes the heart out of you,” AquaSox manager John Tamargo said of the pivotal blasts. “To (Boise’s) credit, they came back in the ninth inning and had a chance to win the ballgame.”

Boise had runners at second and third with one out, but Christian Staehely struck out the next two batters to end it.

The win — Everett’s fourth in a row and third straight versus Boise (18-27) — pulled the AquaSox (28-17) within two games of West Division-leading Salem-Keizer (30-15). Suddenly in a rut, S-K lost 6-2 against Spokane Wednesday.

Everett prevailed despite committing three errors and falling behind 3-0 early.

Phillips’ clutch homer was his fourth of the season. Last year he hit just two homers in 215 minor-league at-bats.

“To be honest, I was more in defensive mode because I had two strikes on me. I was just hoping to put the ball in play and I just somehow got the bat on it and did a good job,” said Phillips, who raised his average to .214 with a 2-for-4 night in the No. 9 lineup slot.

Ever-reliable AquaSox third baseman Mario Martinez pushed his franchise-record single-season hit streak to 20 games. He hit a pair of singles and finished 2-for-4.

Ben Billingsley (3-for-4) led a group of five Everett players with multiple hits. He singled and scored during his team’s four-run rally in the seventh. Phillips and Cerione capped the outburst by cranking consecutive homers to the right side of the stadium. Their solo shots came off of Boise’s Yohan Gonzalez (2-2), who took the loss.

It was the third long ball in two games for Cerione, who had two RBI. He helped the Frogs improve to 17-4 at home this season. Meanwhile, Boise lost its fourth straight and dropped to 6-15 on the road. Everett plays host to Boise again today and Friday.

Everett fell behind 3-0 by the third inning but rallied to tie it, thanks largely to long hits by Martinez and James Jones.

Boise scored once in the second (on cleanup hitter Justin Bour’s home run) and tacked on two more runs in the third, aided by two hits, a throwing error and a wild pitch — unusually sloppy play for an AquaSox team that has played solid defense all season.

Everett cut the deficit to 3-1 in the third. Nate Trinkler scored on Cerione’s groundout, after Trinkler started the inning with a double to left-center and went to third base on Phillips’ groundout.

The AquaSox erupted for two more runs in the fourth, erasing the remainder of what was once a commanding three-run lead for Boise. Martinez started the rally with a looping single to right field that eluded the grasp of Jae-Hoon Ha, who barely missed making a diving catch.

Following two wild pitches that pushed Martinez to third base, Jones came through with a run-scoring triple. The line-drive hit, Jones’ second triple of the season, sliced away from center fielder Jose Valdez and rolled to the fence. Jones later scored when Billingsley drilled a one-out single to right-center.

Later, Boise jumped ahead 5-3. But it merely set the stage for home-team heroes Phillips and Cerione.

Herald Writer Mike Cane: mcane@heraldnet.com.