EVERETT — Danny Lopez spent most of Saturday night watching from the dugout. The Everett AquaSox infielder didn’t enter the game until being called upon to pinch run in the bottom of the seventh inning. He never once came to the plate.
Yet Lopez may have made the decisive contribution to Eve
rett’s victory.
Lopez made a game-saving play at shortstop in the top of the eighth as the Sox held on for an 8-7 victory over the Boise Hawks.
Boise had closed within one run in the eighth, and the Hawks loaded the bases with two outs. That brought Pin-Chieh Chen to the plate, and he hit a hard grounder up the middle that seemed sure to score the tying and go-ahead runs.
But Lopez materialized out of nowhere, dived full out to his left to glove the ball. He quickly recovered and shoveled the ball to second baseman Jorge Agudelo to just beat a sliding Zeke DeVoss for the inning-ending force play.
“It definitely felt good to make a contribution,” Lopez said. “Any chance I get to help the team win definitely feels good.”
Said Everett manager Scott Steinmann: “If that ball squeaks through both runners are scoring. Right there he saved the game.
“He knew he was probably going to go in so he stayed ready mentally,” Steinmann added. “I know he’s been studying these hitters a bit, so he probably positioned himself in the right spot to give himself a chance. A tip of the cap to a guy who’s playing the game smart, too.”
Prior to that, the crowd at Everett Memorial Stadium was treated to play that more resembled something seen in a Ringling Brothers circus show than in a baseball game. The teams combined to commit eight errors and allow eight unearned runs.
The circus began in the bottom of the first when Everett scored four runs without getting a hit. Hawks starting pitcher Su-Min Jung didn’t just have difficulty avoiding walks, he struggled even to throw a strike as three of the four walks he issued came on four pitches.
Boise shortstop Dustin Harrington botched back-to-back grounders, with three runs scoring in the process. And the one time there appeared to be a hit, when Mike Dowd’s liner to left dropped in, the hit was taken off the board when Jim Wood was forced at third.
The game continued its curious course until solo homers from Rafael Lopez in the seventh and Reggie Golden in the eighth helped Boise close within one. Chen appeared to have completed the comeback, but Lopez came to the rescue for the Sox.
“It was a very unusual ballgame,” Steinmann said with a chuckle. “There were a lot of balls flying everywhere, changes, this and that going on. That was a typical short-season game right there. It was a learning experience for a lot of people.”
Everett’s Luis Rodriguez did the best job of not succumbing to the madness. The veteran infielder, who started the season with the Seattle Mariners and played the third game of a rehabilitation stint with the Sox on Saturday, went 2-for-3 with two runs and two walks.
The victory gave Everett (3-2 second half, 19-24 overall) a three-game winning streak. The Sox have won six of their past eight.
And after a long wait it was also the first professional victory for Everett starting pitcher Jordan Shipers. The left-hander, who’s been Everett’s hard-luck pitcher, allowed five runs in five innings, but only one of those runs was earned. He gave up six hits and two walks and struck out two in improving to 1-4.
Boise (2-3, 19-24) was paced by Lopez’s and Golden’s home runs.
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