Cabrera walks it off in 11th, Ford shines as AquaSox top Emeralds in opener
Published 1:30 am Friday, April 7, 2023
EVERETT — It was Harry Ford Day at Funko Field on Friday. But while Ford played his part, it was Walking Cabrera who claimed the starring role.
Cabrera, apropos to his name, blasted a walk-off single in the bottom of the 11th inning, giving the Everett AquaSox a 4-3 victory over the Eugene Emeralds in their Northwest League opener Friday night at Funko Field.
Everett fell behind in the 10th, only to tie it back up and force an 11th. Then in the bottom of the 11th Cabrera belted an 0-2 fastball from Mat Olsen over the head of Eugene left fielder Wade Meckler, scoring ghost runner Axel Sanchez from third and sparking a raucous celebration near second base, which included the whole Everett team pogoing together while buckets of water and ice flew Cabrera’s way.
“Walk offs are always fun,” Everett manager Ryan Scott said. “This team, they’re a really good group of guys and they all play well together, they have a lot of fun. So it’s good to see them go out there and celebrate.
“It was good to set the tone early here in the season, and hopefully we can keep the energy up and keep it going all year.”
Ford, the Seattle Mariners’ consensus top prospect and the Sox’s main attraction, had an impressive Everett debut. The 20-year-old catcher, who was serenaded by the crowd of 2,131 with “Har-ry, Har-ry!” chants every time he came to bat, had three hits, drove in the go-ahead run in the seventh, scored the tying run in the 10th and threw out one of two Eugene baserunners who attempted to steal.
Everett’s pitching staff was even better, as six Sox pitchers combined to allow just one earned run, while walking two and striking out 14 in 11 innings of work. Starter Juan Mercedes led the way, as the right-hander relied on his slider to give up just one run in six innings, walking none and striking out nine as he left the game with the score tied 1-1.
“They were outstanding,” Scott said about his pitchers. “They got in there and dominated the zone how they should, got us into good counts. A couple of errors obviously hurt us a little bit, but our pitchers did a great job of getting into the zone and doing their job.”
Meckler and Grant McCray each had three hits to lead the Emeralds.
Eugene wasted no time scoring the first run of the season. McCray, the first batter of the game, tripled over the head of center fielder Jonatan Clase, who showed hesitation with the angled wall. Two batters later Meckler lined a double to right-center to score McCray and stake the Emeralds to a 1-0 lead.
Everett responded immediately in the bottom of the first. Clase led off with a walk, stole second, advanced to third on a groundout, then scored on Tyler Locklear’s single to left, knotting it at 1-1.
The Sox then took the lead in the bottom of the seventh thanks to two balls that weren’t hit particularly well. With two outs Clase hit a classic Funko Field double, as his routine fly found the scoreboard that rises above the short porch in right-center. Ford followed with a pop-up to center off the end of his bat, with McCray coming up just short on his sliding-catch attempt as Clase trotted home from third.
But this time it was Eugene that responded in the next half-inning. In the top of the eighth McCray led off with a bunt single, was balked to second and stole third. Aeverson Artega then grounded to short with the infield drawn in, but Axel Sanchez first booted the grounder, then threw wide of first, allowing McCray to score and tie it at 2-2. The Emeralds had runners and second and third with one out, but weren’t able to bring any more around as first baseman Locklear made a fine sliding catch of a foul pop to end the inning.
Eugene looked like it won it in the top of the 10th when Meckler fisted a single to left to bring in ghost runner Damon Dues. But Ford sent it to the 11th when he grounded an RBI single up the middle through a drawn-in infield to send it to the 11th.
Rotation set
The AquaSox have set their initial starting rotation. Following Mercedes will be right-hander Reid Morgan on Saturday and left-hander Reid VanScoter on Sunday to close out the series against Eugene. Then, after the Sox hit the road to face Hillsboro, it will be left-hander Raul Alcantara on Tuesday and right-hander Bernie Martinez on Wednesday before returning to Mercedes.
