Opponent: Yakima Bears
When: 7:05 p.m.
Where: Everett Memorial Stadium
Radio: KSER (90.7 FM)
Pitchers: Yakima left-hander Keith Whatley (1-3, 3.71 ERA) vs. Everett right-hander Ruben Flores (1-2, 3.71).
Long day at work
Everett’s scheduled starting pitcher for tonight’s game, Ruben Flores, will be hard-pressed to improve upon his last start, at least as far as length is concerned.
In his previous start at Tri-City last Sunday, Flores threw eight innings, the longest outing by an AquaSox pitcher this season and an almost unheard of length of start in a developmental league such as the Northwest League.
“They’re on a 100-pitch count and I tell them, ‘As long as you’re below that, I’ll give you nine if you can,’” Everett pitching coach Marcos Garcia said. “He was outstanding that day. He was just superb. He had command of all of his pitches, pitched well in and out of the plate, it was a great game for him.”
In his eight innings, Flores gave up one unearned run on five hits and one walk, striking out six.
“I thought I pitched good,” Flores said. “I wish I could have gone the whole nine, but the pitch count was already up. I had 100 pitches with the first out in the eighth inning and Pedro (Grifol, Everett’s manager) came out and asked if I wanted to go. I said, ‘Yeah,’ and he left me out there. I struck out the next guy and got a flyout.”
Flores left the game with a 2-1 lead, but the Dust Devils came back to win 3-2 in the bottom of the ninth. But although Flores was robbed of a win, he was happy that he bounced back from his previous start, when he lasted just 12/3 innings against Vancouver.
“I went two innings in the previous start and I went into Sunday thinking I had to bounce back from that,” Flores said. “I didn’t want to be looked at as a guy who only goes two innings, and then the next time goes out and gets shelled again.”
Who’s that? Spectators can be forgiven if they were a little confused about who was starting on the mound for the AquaSox in Wednesday night’s game.
Warming up in the bullpen before the game was No. 14, which is the jersey of Mark Lowe. However, it was scheduled starter Aaron Jensen, usually No. 10, who was wearing the No. 14 jersey.
“Mark Lowe sits right by me in the locker room and I always throw his jersey on,” Jensen said. “It’s happened before.
“I didn’t even notice it,” Jensen added. “Someone said, ‘Jense, you’ve got 14 on again.’ Oh, I’d better grab my number.”
Jensen had someone dispatched to the clubhouse to get his correct jersey and changed in the dugout just in time to take the mound for the start of the game.
Heads up: Thursday night Yakima’s Chris Carter showed just how much of a difference heads-up baserunning can make as his exploits led directly to the Bears’ first three runs.
In the top of the second inning, Carter led off with a double to left-center. Then right after Trey Hendricks struck out, Carter snuck into third when pitcher Kendall Bergdall and third baseman Brent Johnson both had their heads turned. Carter scored on Daniel Pohlman’s sacrifice fly – which wouldn’t have happened had he still been on second – to give the Bears a 1-0 lead.
Then in the fourth, Carter was on first with one out when Hendricks grounded up the middle. Shortstop Oswaldo Navarro fielded the ball and with his momentum taking him straight at Carter, he went for the tag. However, Carter put on the brakes and slipped under the tag, reaching second safely as Navarro threw Hendricks out at first. With the inning thus still alive, Pohlman was able to drive a shot over the right-center wall to make it 3-0.
Nick Patterson, Herald writer
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