AquaSox make Yakima pay for its mistakes, 8-4

Published 12:18 am Friday, June 22, 2007

EVERETT – Thursday may have been the longest day of the year, but it felt more like Christmastime for the Everett AquaSox. The Yakima Bears kept giving Everett gifts, and the Sox said, “Thank you very much.”

Yakima’s defense committed six errors, and Everett took advantage to defeat the Bears 8-4 in Northwest League action.

Those six errors resulted in four unearned runs, which proved the difference in the game.

In contrast, Everett (2-1) played flawless defense behind starting pitcher Rob Harmon and three relievers, and the Sox also did a good job of capitalizing after Bears miscues.

“We got a little bit of help from them,” AquaSox manager Mike Tosar said. “They had a few errors out there tonight that cost them some runs, and that’s part of the game. You give runs away like that and it’s tough to win ballgames. We were on the other side of it, we didn’t make any errors and they had to work for every run they scored today.”

The defensive malaise seemed to infect the entire Yakima team as five different Bears were charged with errors.

“It’s tough to battle back from six errors,” Yakima manager Mike Bell lamented. “I don’t think it was from a lack of effort on our part, we didn’t make the plays and they did a good job of taking advantage of our mistakes.”

Because of the errors, the Sox scored eight runs on just seven hits, with no Everett batter registering more than one hit. Manelik Pimentel and Marquise Liverpool each scored two runs, Jeff Dunbar drove in a pair.

Yakima (1-2) was led by Aaron Hanke and Clayton Conner, who each homered.

Everett’s error-free defense was even more important considering the number of baserunners the Bears had early in the game. Harmon, who earned the win, had runners on base all night. But thanks to solid defense and timely strikeouts he managed to escape without too much damage. In five innings the right-hander gave up three runs on five hits and four walks. He finished with eight strikeouts.

“He got himself in trouble missing the strike zone, but then came back and threw strikes when he needed to,” Tosar said. “I’d like for him to get in the strike zone more consistently early in the count rather than late in the count when he has to throw strikes.”

Yakima ended up stranding seven runners in Harmon’s five innings as the Bears were unable to find the clutch hit.

“It’s our third game of the year and I think we might be trying to do a little too much,” Bell said. “I see guys doing the right thing, they know what they’re trying to do, it just didn’t happen tonight.”

Relievers Ryan Moorer, Shawn Kelley and Keith Meyer pitched well in the final four innings to close the game out.

Yakima starter Omar Arif had a short outing in taking the loss. The left-hander lasted just three innings, giving up four runs – two earned – on three hits and three walks. He struck out two.

Everett grabbed the lead in the bottom of the first inning. Roberto Mena walked, stole second and scored when Gregory Halman hit a groundball down the third-base line for a double. Halman later scored on Kalian Sams’ single to center, giving the Sox a 2-0 lead.

Yakima cut the lead in half in the top of the second when Conner led off by crushing a homer to left, making it 2-1 with his first homer of the season.

The Sox scored two more in the third without the benefit of a hit. With two on and two out, Sams swung and missed at strike three, but the ball skipped past Yakima catcher Konrad Schmidt. Schmidt tried to throw Sams out at first, but the ball sailed into the outfield. Jermaine Brock and Pimentel scored, with Sams thrown out at third, as Everett increased its lead to 4-1.

The Bears got those two runs back in the fifth with another homer, this time Hanke skying a two-run shot out to center to make it 4-3. It was Hanke’s second homer of the season.

But Everett regained control in the sixth. A sacrifice fly by Dunbar and an RBI single by Ogui Diaz brought home a run each. Then when Mark Hallberg’s throw pulled first baseman Ramon Ramirez off the bag on Brock’s grounder to short, Liverpool hustled around to score from second, making it 7-3.

Yakima pushed another run across in the seventh when Hanke led off by popping a triple off the right-center wall, then scored on Ramirez’s groundout to first, making it 7-4.

Everett completed the scoring in the eighth when Liverpool reached on yet another error, stole second and scored when Dunbar dropped a double down the right-field line.

A frightening moment occurred in the top of the fifth when Hallberg was drilled in the helmet by a Harmon fastball. Hallberg remained face-down in the dirt for about a minute before eventually sitting up and staying in the game – though he had to have his helmet replaced.