VANCOUVER, B.C.– Just when it looked like things might finally fall into place for the struggling Everett AquaSox, the team’s early season tailspin continued at Scotiabank Field at Nat Bailey Stadium Wednesday night.
Everett (3-10) jumped ahead of the Canadians (10-3) 1-0 in the top of the s
econd, but Aquasox starter Jose Vicente Campos (0-2) surrendered six runs in the bottom half of the inning to put Everett in another deep hole that the team couldn’t dig out of on the way to an 8-3 defeat. The loss extends Everett’s losing streak to seven games.
The Aquasox jumped ahead in the second inning after a pair of strikeouts. Jorge Agudelo followed with a single, went to second on a balk by Justin Nicolino (2-0) and then scored on a throwing error by Canadians shortstop Shane Opitz on Patrick Brady’s infield single.
Nicolino, a second-round draft pick of the Toronto Blue Jays, the Canadians’ parent club, didn’t make many more mistakes. He threw five innings with just one earned run on five hits. He fanned four Frogs and walked two.
Vancouver’s big second-inning rally began when Roan Salas led off with a double. Eli Boike then singled, advancing Salas to third. Campos’ fourth ball to Pierce Rankin got by catcher Michael Dowd and Salas scored to tie the score. It was the second consecutive game that the first Canadian run came on a wild pitch. Matt Newman hit a ball that got past Everett third baseman Danny Lopez for a single on which Boike scored.
It was a funky beginning to an inning that saw 11 batters come to the plate. Vancouver get seven hits — two by Salas — and scored six runs before Boike grounded out with two runners on to end the inning.
In Campos’ previous two starts, the righty from Venezuela had given up two runs in 12 innings. Wednesday night he lasted just 21/3 innings while giving up eight hits and two walks along with three strikeouts.
Jason Buursma came on to pitch 31/3 innings of solid relief, giving up one earned run.
Everett chipped away at the Vancouver lead but would never get closer than the final margin. James Wood and Dowd singled to open the fourth. Wood came around to score on a pair of groundouts to make the score 7-2.
Rudy van Heydoorn opened the Everett half of the seventh, reaching on an error. Nathan Melendres followed with a single. After a pair of outs, Danny Lopez roped a double that scored van Heydoorn and made the score 8-3.
Everett will play the third and final game of the Vancouver series at 1:05 p.m. today before heading to Salem for a three-game series against the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes beginning Friday.
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