Canadians hand AquaSox second straight loss
Published 11:35 pm Friday, August 13, 2010
VANCOUVER, B.C. — The Everett AquaSox haven’t lost many games this season, but now they find themselves in the rare situation of being in the midst of a losing streak.
The Vancouver Canadians scored twice in the bottom of the eighth inning to snap a deadlock, and the Canadians defeated the AquaSox 4-2 Friday afternoon to hand Everett its second straight loss.
Everett has the best record in the Northwest League, and the Sox won eight straight before falling 13-2 to Vancouver on Thursday. Friday’s loss gave Everett consecutive losses for just the fourth time this season.
Ryan Lipkin was Vancouver’s hero for the second straight day. One day after driving in five runs, Lipkin dumped an eighth-inning, two-out single down the right-field line, scoring Doug Landaeta from third with what proved to be the decisive run.
Michael Choice added a two-run homer for Vancouver (11-5 second half, 28-26 overall), which passed Everett for first place in the West Division’s second-half race. Daniel Tenholder earned the win with two innings of scoreless relief, improving to 2-0. A.J. Griffin worked a scoreless ninth to pick up his league-leading 10th save.
Fred Bello and Kalian Sams homered to lead Everett (10-6, 37-17). Bennett Whitmore suffered the loss, falling to 0-1.
Early on the Sox were cruising. Pitcher Ogui Diaz, starting in place of Eric Thomas for his first professional start, threw five scoreless innings, allowing just two hits and striking out five. Meanwhile, Bello homered to left-center in the top of the third — his third homer of the season, but the first that left the yard as his previous two were of the inside-the-park variety — and Sams crushed a shot to left in the fifth, staking Everett to a 2-0 lead.
But the Canadians struck immediately after Diaz departed. In the bottom of the sixth against reliever Tyler Burgoon, Choice slugged a two-run homer to center to tie it up at 2-2.
Vancouver then took the lead in the eighth against Whitmore. With two out and runners on the corners, Lipkin dropped a single down the right-field line to snap the tie. Then Whitmore threw away a pickoff attempt to first, allowing Wade Kirkland to score from third and give the Canadians a two-run lead.
