AquaSox show progress, but drop fifth straight to Canadians

EVERETT — Carson Jones just needed one swing to turn the game on its head.

Following back-to-back singles from Anthony Donofrio and Colin Davis, the Everett AquaSox outfielder swung on the first pitch he saw from Vancouver Canadians pitcher Jackson Wentworth in the bottom of the fifth inning at Funko Field on Sunday.

By belting the pitch over the wall in right-center, Jones turned a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 lead. After the Everett offense went 19 consecutive innings without scoring, Jones’ three-run shot was a much-needed boost.

“It feels great,” Jones said. “Like I talked about the other night, I’m just trying to put together good at bats and swing at good pitches, man. Just put the team in position to win, so that’s all I’m trying to do.”

Jones did just that, improving Everett’s win probability to 69.2 percent, jumping up from 33.5 percent in the previous at bat. But Vancouver’s Eddie Micheletti Jr. had other plans.

The 23-year-old outfielder tied the game with a solo shot in the next inning, then struck again with a go-ahead homer in the eighth to secure the 4-3 victory for the Canadians, marking five straight losses for the AquaSox.

After combining for just five hits in their past two games against Vancouver, Everett posted six hits on Sunday in a game that felt competitive until the final out. Still, after going just 4-for-42 (.095) with runners in scoring position (RISP) this week, the AquaSox continue searching for answers.

“That’s not going to cut it,” said AquaSox bench coach Hecmart Nieves, who is acting manager with Zach Vincej out of town. “We put ourselves in a position to have runners, but we didn’t do a really good job about bringing them in.”

Nieves continues to stand by the process, insisting the team is putting together good at-bats and just isn’t seeing results. He maintains it will come together with time, but over the past 15 days, only Brandon Eike (.286) and Colt Emerson (.261) have batting averages above .250.

Through clinching the first-half title to sinking to 3-12 in the second half on Sunday, the team is committed to its plan. In some instances, it’s obvious why. Eike went 1-for-4 on Sunday, but made good contact in each of the three at-bats that didn’t lead to hits.

Meanwhile, Jones extended his hitting streak to three games with his home run, and he’s reached base in all four games he’s played in so far this month. Jones’ season average has not been above .200 since May 18, but after going 4-for-12 (.333) this week, his offensive game is starting to show flashes.

“The start of the season for him was a rough one,” Nieves said. “When you hit that path to where you cannot catch a break, it’s tough to get out of it. It’s good to see him back after a good season last year (with Single-A Modesto). Now, he’s finding good rhythm, he’s putting good ABs together, he’s hitting the ball hard. He’s in a good spot, and I’m happy for him.”

As the offense slowly tries to pick itself up, the AquaSox pitchers had another solid outing after recovering from a battering against Eugene last week. Starter Teddy McGraw allowed five hits and one earned run to go with four strikeouts in three innings, and Evan Truitt had five strikeouts in five innings of relief.

Truitt allowed only four hits, but three of them were solo home runs, including both of Micheletti Jr.’s blasts, which made the difference.

“It was a really good outing,” said AquaSox pitching coach Matt Carasiti, who complimented Truitt’s fastball and his overall command. “You’re going to give up solo home runs? We can live with the solo shot, but he did a great job.”

For the second day in a row, Vancouver scored in the top of the first inning when Sean Keys scored Cutter Coffey with a single to make it 1-0. The AquaSox led off the first and second innings with singles from Emerson and Tai Peete, respectively, but the bats behind them couldn’t move them.

Charlie Pagliarini ripped a hard line drive that Canadians second baseman Nick Goodwin managed to snag in the first inning, and Donofrio flied into a double play after Peete advanced too far along the base paths without tagging up in the second.

Peete also had issues on the bases in the sixth inning, reaching first on a dropped fly ball from Canadians left fielder Bryce Arnold before getting tagged out while sliding into second. Curtis Washington Jr. subbed in for Peete entering the eighth inning.

“I felt like that was the right situation there for Curtis,” Nieves said. “It’s just internal stuff that happened, and he got to play. … I’ll leave it at that.”

Truitt took the mound to start the fourth inning, and allowed a home run to Carter Cunningham on his first pitch to make it 2-0, but he responded by retiring the next three batters.

“You’re going to get beat every once in a while, and all you can do is just keep pitching and competing, and trying to get the team a chance to win,” Truitt said.

After grounding out in his first at-bat, Jones felt the need to tweak his swing coming to bat the second time around in the fifth inning. It proved to be the right decision.

“I just wanted to be shorter with my swing,” Jones said. “I wanted to be more compact. I kind of got too big with my swing my first at-bat, so I just tried to shorten up, put the ball in play, and good things happened.”

After Micheletti Jr. gave Vancouver the lead in the eighth, Everett failed to reach base the rest of the game. The AquaSox head on the road to face Tri-City for six games leading into the All-Star Break, which may be sorely needed for this team.

“Today was an improvement, obviously, in the week,” Truitt said. “But I think the bats are starting to come around again. The pitching is starting to throw more strikes, and we’ll take that to Tri-City and try to win a few more games there.”