Published: Friday, July 15, 2011
AquaSox get gem from Campos
Young right-hander holds Spokane scoreless for six innings in Everett's 8-2 win over the Spokane Indians.
EVERETT -- Jose Campos, like any teenage pitcher trying to get his professional career under way in the Northwest League, has experienced his share of ups and downs.
Friday night Campos had one of those upswings and showed an appreciative crowd at Everett Memorial Stadium just why he's considered perhaps the most-exciting prospect on the Sox's roster this season.
Campos was electric, holding Spokane scoreless for six innings and leading the Sox to an 8-2 victory over the Indians.
"That's the first outing he's put it together for the whole time," Everett manager Scott Steinmann said of Campos. "He'd have three of five innings, or four of six innings, or five of six innings at times. One inning would kind of cost him. But today he did a great job."
Campos, an 18-year-old right-hander from Venezuela, is best known for his lively fastball and Friday night it was on full display. He struck out eight batters during his six innings, usually by blowing a 94-mph heater right past the unfortunate victim. Campos allowed just two hits, walked two and departed with the Sox leading 4-0.
Campos is now 2-2 and lowered his ERA to 3.16.
"He's good every time he throws, but he had a good game today," Sox catcher Larry Gonzalez said of Campos. "Every day he's getting better.
"The first innings he got after the hitters," Gonzalez added. "He was aggressive with everybody, threw strikes and stayed down. He stayed back. He's tall and he throws hard, so he needs to stay back."
The Sox also showed they didn't empty the offensive cupboard the previous night, when they put a season-high 16 runs on the scoreboard. Everett maintained its offensive prowess by pounding out 10 hits, including four that went for extra bases. Jarrett Burgess and Jorge Agudelo each homered for Everett, Mario Yepez had three hits, and Ramon Morla went 2-for-4 with two RBI.
"I'm glad we kept on scoring," Steinmann said. "We kept coming at them, we didn't stop. We could have even put some more runs on the board if we get one or two two-out hits."
Jason Buursma pitched the final three innings for Everett to pick up his first save of the season.
The victory, Everett's second straight at home, improved the Sox to 12-16. The back-to-back home wins doubled the Sox's home victory total.
Trever Adams was the lone Spokane batter with more than one hit, going 2-for-4.
Christopher Hanna, who started for Spokane in place of the suspended Santo Perez, suffered the loss to drop to 0-1. He gave up four runs -- three earned -- on seven hits and one walk in 32/3 innings. Hanna struck out six.
The Indians dropped to 14-14.
One night after scoring eight runs in the bottom of the first inning, the Sox followed up by scoring another three in the first Friday.
With two out Morla sent a line drive to left. Left fielder Hirotoshi Onaka lunged to make the catch but missed, and the ball rolled to the wall. Two runs came around to score on what ended up as a triple. Morla then trotted home on Nathan Melendres' bunt single, giving Everett an early 3-0 lead.
Everett tacked on another run in the fourth when Burgess plunked the video board in left-center with a line drive for his third homer of the season.
Campos tired slightly toward the end of his outing in the sixth. However, he was assured a scoreless six innings when Zachary Cone slipped trying to retreat to third and ended up caught in a rundown for the inning's final out.
The Sox put it away in the seventh when Agudelo, the first batter against reliever Sam Robinson, sent a liner to right that just cleared the wall for a three-run homer. Agudelo's third homer of the season made it 7-0.
The Indians avoided being shut out by scoring single runs in both the eighth and ninth, Cone and Guillermo Pimentel each knocking an RBI single.
Friday night Campos had one of those upswings and showed an appreciative crowd at Everett Memorial Stadium just why he's considered perhaps the most-exciting prospect on the Sox's roster this season.
Campos was electric, holding Spokane scoreless for six innings and leading the Sox to an 8-2 victory over the Indians.
"That's the first outing he's put it together for the whole time," Everett manager Scott Steinmann said of Campos. "He'd have three of five innings, or four of six innings, or five of six innings at times. One inning would kind of cost him. But today he did a great job."
Campos, an 18-year-old right-hander from Venezuela, is best known for his lively fastball and Friday night it was on full display. He struck out eight batters during his six innings, usually by blowing a 94-mph heater right past the unfortunate victim. Campos allowed just two hits, walked two and departed with the Sox leading 4-0.
Campos is now 2-2 and lowered his ERA to 3.16.
"He's good every time he throws, but he had a good game today," Sox catcher Larry Gonzalez said of Campos. "Every day he's getting better.
"The first innings he got after the hitters," Gonzalez added. "He was aggressive with everybody, threw strikes and stayed down. He stayed back. He's tall and he throws hard, so he needs to stay back."
The Sox also showed they didn't empty the offensive cupboard the previous night, when they put a season-high 16 runs on the scoreboard. Everett maintained its offensive prowess by pounding out 10 hits, including four that went for extra bases. Jarrett Burgess and Jorge Agudelo each homered for Everett, Mario Yepez had three hits, and Ramon Morla went 2-for-4 with two RBI.
"I'm glad we kept on scoring," Steinmann said. "We kept coming at them, we didn't stop. We could have even put some more runs on the board if we get one or two two-out hits."
Jason Buursma pitched the final three innings for Everett to pick up his first save of the season.
The victory, Everett's second straight at home, improved the Sox to 12-16. The back-to-back home wins doubled the Sox's home victory total.
Trever Adams was the lone Spokane batter with more than one hit, going 2-for-4.
Christopher Hanna, who started for Spokane in place of the suspended Santo Perez, suffered the loss to drop to 0-1. He gave up four runs -- three earned -- on seven hits and one walk in 32/3 innings. Hanna struck out six.
The Indians dropped to 14-14.
One night after scoring eight runs in the bottom of the first inning, the Sox followed up by scoring another three in the first Friday.
With two out Morla sent a line drive to left. Left fielder Hirotoshi Onaka lunged to make the catch but missed, and the ball rolled to the wall. Two runs came around to score on what ended up as a triple. Morla then trotted home on Nathan Melendres' bunt single, giving Everett an early 3-0 lead.
Everett tacked on another run in the fourth when Burgess plunked the video board in left-center with a line drive for his third homer of the season.
Campos tired slightly toward the end of his outing in the sixth. However, he was assured a scoreless six innings when Zachary Cone slipped trying to retreat to third and ended up caught in a rundown for the inning's final out.
The Sox put it away in the seventh when Agudelo, the first batter against reliever Sam Robinson, sent a liner to right that just cleared the wall for a three-run homer. Agudelo's third homer of the season made it 7-0.
The Indians avoided being shut out by scoring single runs in both the eighth and ninth, Cone and Guillermo Pimentel each knocking an RBI single.
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