EVERETT — Tri-City struck first on Friday night … or so it seemed.
The visiting Dust Devils put the game’s first run on the scoreboard in the top of the third inning, but it came down moments later when the Everett AquaSox were rewarded for a successful appeal. And when the Sox tallied three runs in their half of the third they were on their way to a 4-1 victory, the team’s sixth in the past eight games.
With the win, the Sox moved a step closer to winning the North Division’s second-half championship. Everett began the night with a 3½-game lead over Vancouver, which was facing Spokane in a double-header. Vancouver won the first game 8-7 in 10 innings, with the second game still under way at The Herald’s deadline (Spokane was leading the second game 2-0 in the third inning).
Winning the second half title “is all we talk about,” said Everett manager Rob Mummau. “(We want) to have a winning atmosphere here and the kids are doing a great job. They’re pulling for each other. … That’s something we talk about almost every day.”
On an overcast and sometimes drippy evening at Everett Memorial Stadium, Tri-City loaded the bases with one out in the third against Everett starting pitcher Rohn Pierce. The Sox made a pitching change, bringing in reliever Spencer Herrmann to face Dust Devils cleanup hitter Henry Charles.
Charles sent a fly ball to right field that Everett’s Taylor Zeutenhorst caught and fired to the plate. But his throw was late as Tri-City’s Peter Van Gansen slid across the plate.
The Sox, though, alertly noticed that Van Gansen had left early, and Herrmann tossed to third baseman Conner Hale for an appeal. Home-plate umpire Brian Herzog called Van Gansen out, ending the inning.
In the Everett dugout, it was trainer Shane Zdebiak who first spoke up about Van Gansen leaving prematurely. “He said, ‘Hey, he left early,’” Mummau said. “So I said, ‘All right, let’s try (for an appeal).’ It can’t hurt to try, right?”
Was the play a momentum changer? “I think it could’ve been,” Mummau said. “It gave us a little lift right there. And it took a run off the scoreboard (for Tri-City).”
Indeed, the Dust Devils were not happy about the call. With Everett at bat in the next inning, Herzog took a moment to tell the visitors’ dugout, in effect, to pipe down.
In the bottom of the third Everett sent eight batters to the plate, twice loading the bases, and getting an RBI groundout from Corey Simpson and a two-RBI single from Ryan Uhl.
An inning later, Zeutenhorst padded Everett’s margin to 4-0 with a home run over the scoreboard in right-center field.
Five Everett pitchers combined to check the Dust Devils on just five hits. Pierce departed too early for the win, which went to Herrmann, and relievers Joey Strain, Ryan Horstman and Kyle Wilcox worked the remaining innings.
Tri-City got its only run in the fifth on a towering homer to straightaway center field by Rod Boykin.
Everett shortstop Drew Jackson extended his home on-base streak to 19 games with a third-inning walk. However, his bid to reach a .400 batting average for the season — he came in batting .391 — ran into a snag. He went 0-for-3 and his average slipped to .385.
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