AquaSox slammed by Salem-Keiser

EVERETT — So much for a pitchers duel.

For five-plus innings Tuesday night, Everett and Salem-Keizer were locked in a low-scoring affair as starting pitchers Jordan Shipers and Kendry Flores mowed down opposing hitters. But eventually the Volcanoes broke through in the sixth inning, then ble

w the game open in the seventh to hand the AquaSox a 7-2 loss in front of 1,193 at Everett Memorial Stadium.

“We had a rough inning,” said AquaSox manager Scott Steinmann, referring to the seventh inning whenBrett Krill’s grand slam put the game out of reach.

The loss snaps a four-game winning streak for the Sox, who host Salem-Keizer again today before hitting the road for a five-game series in Boise. Conversely it was a rare victory for the Volcanoes, who had lost eight straight and 16 of their last 17.

The left-handed Shipers had impressive swing-and-miss stuff, striking out eight in six innings while walking just one. He finished allowing two earned runs and five hits.

“Today we established the fastball, threw it early in counts, late in counts, he was able to put guys away with it,” said Everett catcher Mike Dowd. “His curveball looked good and he was mixing his pitches.”

But after allowing just one run through five innings, Shipers got into a bit of trouble in the sixth. The Volcanoes got one run on a Krill double, then Krill scored on a error. Shipers struck out the final two batters he would face to end the inning, but the damage was done. Even so, it was an impressive outing for Shipers, who only turned 20 last week.

“He’s getting better every time out,” Steinmann said. “He’s a young kid, and every time out he’s getting better and better. I’m pleased with the way he performed tonight.”

Whatever hope Everett had of coming back evaporated in the seventh when Krill hit a grand slam off of reliever Joe DiRocco to give Salem-Keizer a 7-1 lead.

“DiRocco, he’s done a great job for us all season,” Steinman said. “He’s had one other bad inning but throughout the season he’s done very well for us. We like bringing him in in that situation, and I’d bring him in that situation again. I trust him that much with the baseball.”

Everett did get a run back in the bottom half of the seventh when right fielder James Wood crushed a home run to right field of reliever Aaron King. Wood’s homer gave Everett its first base runner since the second inning after Flores had stymied the Sox for most of the evening.

And it’s not like anyone should have seen this coming. Flores came into the game with an 0-2 record and 10.00 earned run average and looked like he might live down to expectations early when allowed a double on his first pitch of the game to Marcus Littlewood. The Sox shortstop eventually scored on a Danny Lopez sac fly, but Flores faced the minimum over the course of his six innings following the leadoff double. Following a leadoff single in the second, Flores retired the last 13 batters he would face, striking out four.

“He was throwing fastballs, pretty flat fastball early, then he just settled into a groove,” Dowd. “He had a little bit of a cutter and a pretty good 12-6 curve that just threw guys off. He settled in there and we kind of let him off the hook.”

Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com.