YAKIMA – The Everett AquaSox took advantage of some sloppy play by the Yakima Bears, scoring six unearned runs in a 9-6 Northwest League victory Wednesday night at Yakima County Stadium.
The victory was the third straight for Everett, which improved to 5-1. Yakima fell to 2-4.
Yakima committed four errors – three by third baseman Trey Hendricks – leading to three Everett unearned runs in the third inning, one in the fifth and two in the sixth in building an 8-3 lead.
The AquaSox tried to let Yakima back in it in the ninth as a pair of walks and a pair of errors made it a three-run game with the bases loaded and one out, but Everett held on.
Brent Johnson was 3-for-4 with three runs and Trevor Heid was 3-for-5 to lead the Everett offense.
Everett starting pitcher Aaron Jensen earned the win to improve to 2-0. He tossed five innings, surrendering three runs – two earned – on four hits and two walks. He struck out three. Vance Hall got the final out to earn the save.
Everett played without first baseman Bryan LaHair – the Northwest League leader in hits – because of a bruised hand suffered in Tuesday’s 5-4 victory over the Bears. He’s listed as day-to-day. His replacement, Luis Soto, had to leave the game in the fourth inning after pulling up lame running out a groundout.
The AquaSox scored first for the fifth time in six games this season, taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning when Yung Chi Chen singled to score Johnson from second.
Everett then tacked on three more in the third. The AquaSox loaded the bases with no outs, then Luis Soto grounded into a double play, Johnson scoring from third. Casey Craig followed with a dribbler down the third-base line which Hendricks bobbled, allowing Chen to score. Craig later scored on a wild pitch, making it 4-0.
The rout appeared to be on when the AquaSox put two more runs on the board in the fourth. With two out, Johnson and Chen hit back-to-back singles, then Brandon Green doubled to deep center, driving home both Johnson and Chen to make it 6-0.
Everett again rallied with two out and nobody on to score in the fifth. Mike Wilson reached on an error, Brian Schweiger was hit by a pitch and Elvis Cruz lined a single to right, scoring Wilson and increasing the lead to 7-0.
Yakima finally got on the board in the bottom of the fifth. Daniel Pohlman’s double to center scored one run, Erik Schindewolf’s groundout scored another and Mark Reynolds’ infield single scored the third, cutting the lead to 7-3.
But Everett came right back, scoring two in the top of the sixth on Heid’s two-run single to left, making it 9-3.
Yakima scored two more in the bottom of the sixth on Orlando Mercado’s RBI double and an error by Chen at short.
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