EVERETT — With two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth against the Tri-City Dust Devils on Sunday, Luis Suisbel had an opportunity to do some damage.
The 22-year-old third baseman went ahead 2-0 in the count, holding off two low pitches. He fouled the third pitch off down the middle and inspected his barrel, either checking for cracks or wondering how he didn’t get all over it. Or both.
He took strike two on a pitch well outside the zone, then made contact on a low pitch. It rolled right to Tri-City first baseman Ryan Nicholson, who flipped it to pitcher Sandy Gaston on first to end the inning.
Suisbel stranded loaded bases, but he didn’t care. After hitting a pair of two-run homers earlier in the game to help Everett build a 12-run lead, he had done more than enough. Shaddon Peavyhouse retired the side in the top of the ninth, and the AquaSox (34-29) claimed a 13-1 victory on Father’s Day.
“(We’re) dominating the zone,” said bench coach Hecmart Nieves, who was acting manager on Sunday while Zach Vincej was out of town attending to a family matter. “That’s our thing. That’s what we do as an organization. We take the pitch that we’re supposed to take. We try to do damage at the pitches in the zone, and that’s exactly what we did today. We didn’t give anything up, and the guys just put on a show.”
Suisbel hit two of Everett’s five home runs of the afternoon, going 2-for-4 with three runs scored and four RBI. Freuddy Batista (3-for-5, 2 R, 4 RBI) added a two-run shot of his own, as well as his third and fourth RBI-doubles of the past two days. Charlie Pagliarini opened the scoring with a leadoff home run in the first inning, and Tai Peete opened the second inning with a solo shot of his own to give Everett an early 2-0 lead.
Nick Payero earned the decision, allowing one run and three hits over four innings in relief, but it was starter Teddy McGraw who won the day.
Making his High-A debut with the AquaSox, McGraw walked just one batter and struck out four across three hitless innings. The 23-year-old righty was assigned to Everett on Saturday after making five appearances with the ACL Mariners between May 13 and June 6 this season (9 IP, 3 ER, 8 H, 4 BB, 9 K).
Prior to his return in May, the 2023 third-round pick was shut down on Aug. 22, 2024 with Low-A Modesto due to an elbow flexor injury. After undergoing two Tommy John surgeries earlier in his career — once in high school and another while playing at Wake Forest — McGraw avoided a third arm surgery and worked his way back slowly, setting up to a dream debut on Father’s Day with both parents, Tim and Kelly, in the crowd.
“I was just grateful to be where I’m at,” McGraw said. “It’s been a long road, and with faith in God and knowing a lot of people are in my corner supporting me and loving me, that’s all I need. Just super grateful to be in that spot and be back out there.”
After Everett jumped ahead 2-0, Batista’s first RBI-double scored Peete from first in the bottom of the fourth, and a wild pitch allowed him to score from third three batters later to make it 4-0. Payero carried a combined no-hitter through 4.2 innings until De Jesus ripped a double to right-center, moving Matt Coutney to third after he was hit by a pitch. In the next at-bat, Flores scored Coutney with an RBI-single.
The AquaSox responded by plating four runs in the bottom of the fifth with Suisbel’s first two-run bomb followed by RBI-singles from Josh Caron and Colt Emerson to make it 8-1.
“We got a pretty good group,” Caron said. “I think the biggest thing for us is keeping it fun and just competing every day. And I think even if we go through some ebbs and flows throughout the season, just trusting that we’re a great team and sticking together through it.”
It was déjà vu in the sixth, as Lazaro Montes walked a second time to set up Suisbel’s second two-run long ball, and Batista scored Peete again with a double, extending the lead to 11-1. Both of Suisbel’s home runs were off pitches high in the zone that cleared right field, which he said is a spot he likes looking for, if his performance Sunday didn’t already make that clear.
“I felt lucky today,” Suisbel said. “I feel very good when I can help my team (win), but yeah, so I can find two good pitches, and now I have two good results.”
Batista pushed it to 13-1 with his two-run blast in the bottom of the seventh. Jordan Jackson and Peavyhouse allowed a combined one hit and no walks while striking out two across the final two innings.
Everett has won six of its past seven games, winning all but one in their six-day homestand. With Vancouver (35-28) defeating Spokane 3-2 on Sunday, the AquaSox remain one game behind entering the final week of the first half.
“We (couldn’t) care less about what Vancouver’s doing,” Nieves said. “We just come in here, we do our thing. We’re trying to perform, win baseball games, and that’s our mentality right now.”
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