Jonny Farmelo walks off Tri-City to snap AquaSox skid

Published 1:00 am Wednesday, July 1, 2026

EVERETT — Jonny Farmelo had no room for error.

The Everett AquaSox outfielder stepped to the plate with two outs in the ninth inning, tied 2-2 with the Tri-City Dust Devils at Everett Memorial Stadium on Tuesday. Infielder Austin St. Laurent worked a full-count walk in the prior at-bat to represent the winning run on first, which provided Farmelo the opportunity to get a good look at Tri-City reliever Dylan Phillips.

Phillips wasted no time trying to force the game to extras, pumping a pair of sliders past Farmelo to get the count to 0-2. All of a sudden, Farmelo could not get too picky.

The 21-year-old managed to get his barrel on the next pitch, which rolled toward the right field wall. Farmelo figured he pushed St. Laurent to third base, but he soon realized he was mistaken.

“I saw ‘Scotty’ (AquaSox manager Ryan Scott) send him when I was rounding second,” Farmelo said. “And then I looked to see where the ball was, and I was like, ‘Ok, he’s probably going to score here.’”

Dust Devils right fielder Randy De Jesus had trouble grabbing the ball from the base of the wall, which allowed St. Laurent to wheel from first to home to give Everett the 3-2 walk-off victory, snapping a three-game losing streak.

After going 3-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBI, Farmelo capped the night with his first professional walk-off hit.

“You always want to come through in those big spots,” Farmelo said. “I’ve had a few opportunities this year that haven’t gone great, so to get one is nice.”

AquaSox shortstop Felnin Celesten went 2-for-4 with one RBI, wrapping up a strong month of June for the pair of top 10 Mariners prospects.

Farmelo (1.041) and Celesten (1.025) each had an OPS above 1.000 in June, ranking sixth and seventh in the Northwest League among qualified players, respectively. Each hit seven home runs after entering June with four apiece, displaying more productive power that translated to 53 total bases for Celesten and 52 for Farmelo, which ranked first and second in the league this month.

On top of the young duo’s hitting production, three AquaSox pitchers combined for 15 strikeouts and two walks in a dominant display. Starter Taylor Dollard allowed five hits and no earned runs while fanning six, and reliever Calvin Schapira recorded all six of his outs via strikeout. Casey Hintz rounded out the night with three K’s across two scoreless frames to keep the game tied 2-2.

Farmelo bookended the scoring on Tuesday, leading off the bottom of the third inning with a 383-foot home run to center, but Tri-City threatened to respond in the top of the fourth when infielder Harold Coll legged out an infield single, and shortstop Capri Ortiz put them both in scoring position with a double to left, but Dollard got designated hitter Aaron Graeber to ground out to second on the first pitch of the next at-bat to end the frame.

It marked the second consecutive strong outing for Dollard after a tough stretch from May 19-June 16, where he allowed 4-5 earned runs in five straight starts. After striking out eight across seven innings in a 5-2 win against Eugene on June 23 — his longest outing since 2022 — the 27-year-old came back for five more shutdown innings on Tuesday.

Dollard feels his command is getting better, and that he’s starting to add in more velocity as well, which is the perfect combination for more effective pitching.

“Honestly, I’ve just been doing a good job throwing strikes, man,” Dollard said. “Just being in the zone, being aggressive, being competitive and just kind of trusting that the stuff’s there.”

Dollard has faced plenty of ups and downs in his career, as injuries derailed his 2023 and 2024 seasons after he earned 2022 Texas League Pitcher of the Year with Double-A Arkansas. He returned to Everett in 2025 after missing the entire 2024 season, posting a 3.90 ERA and 1.30 WHIP across 55 1/3 innings last year. This season, his rough month-long stretch ballooned his ERA to 7.29. After his last two starts, it’s down to 6.09.

“Taylor’s a competitor, and he’s not been happy with some of his outings,” AquaSox pitching coach Bryan Pall said. “But he’s been putting himself in good counts and taking advantage of the opportunity to punch tickets and get weak contact.”

The Dust Devils plated the tying run in the fifth when outfielder Jorge Ruiz singled to center for his third hit of the night, and infielder Adrian Placencia worked a walk to put two runners on. De Jesus grounded into a fielder’s choice at third, which took Placencia out heading to second but allowed Ruiz to score on an error from St. Laurent.

Celesten grabbed the lead back for Everett in the bottom of the frame, floating a single to shallow left field to drive in Farmelo, who got on with a single before stealing second.

Schapira took over for Dollard in the sixth and struck out the side, and he struck out his fourth consecutive batter to begin the seventh, but outfielder Gage Harrelson reached on an infield single and Ruiz worked a full-count walk to get two runners on. Schapira fanned Placencia for his fifth strikeout of the night, but allowed an RBI single to De Jesus to tie the game 2-2. The 26-year-old lefty notched his sixth strikeout to limit the damage and send it to the bottom of the seventh.

Schapira had not allowed more than one hit in each of his previous five outings, and he did not allow a single earned run in the month of May. His six strikeouts broke his career-high of five that he set on June 20 against the Hillsboro Hops.

“I have full trust in our bullpen to get the job,” Pall said. “Calvin, when runners (were) on, he didn’t let the game speed up on him. There was a couple weak-contact ground balls that got him, and so what? He moved on and finished the job.”

Hintz followed it up with a similarly productive performance in the eighth and ninth innings. The 22-year-old hit a batter in the eighth, but retired the next three. He allowed two singles in the ninth, but struck out infielder Matt Coutney to send it to the bottom of the ninth and ultimately earn the win with Farmelo’s walk-off.

A 16th-round pick out of Arizona last summer, Hintz improved his record to 3-1, but he leads the AquaSox with six saves this year after totaling four across three collegiate seasons. Pall said the organization has leaned on him later in games due to his competitiveness and ability to perform in high-leverage situations.

“The arsenal’s elite. It’s super unique,” Pall said. “He just wants the ball in any type of situation, so that plus the stuff is a bad recipe for the other team.”

Before Farmelo played the hero, St. Laurent kept the game alive. The 23-year-old turned in an 0-2 count into a walk, fouling a pitch off at 1-2 before taking three straight balls to put himself in position to score the winning run off Farmelo’s bat.

“I would obviously rather hit there than go play defense and come lead off the 10th (inning),” Farmelo said. “So it’s pretty sick to get the opportunity, but yeah, getting to see all his pitches a few times and kind of seeing where it’s at, really helps in the on-deck circle.”

Everett has five more games against Tri-City this week, with the next one on Wednesday at 7:05 p.m. PT.