EVERETT — Bobby LaFromboise greeted each of his Everett AquaSox teammates with a high five and a big smile as they filed back into the clubhouse at Everett Memorial Stadium.
Don’t look now, but after seven weeks of struggles and frustrations the AquaSox have a little something going.
Three Everett hurlers combined on a four-hit shutout, and the AquaSox continued their resurrection by defeating the Tri-City Dust Devils 2-0 Thursday night, Everett’s fourth straight victory.
“We’re absolutely enjoying this,” said LaFromboise, Everett’s starting pitcher who tossed five sterling innings. “You can’t get down on yourself because you have to come back the next day and compete again. So you have to put a loss behind you, and a winning streak like this makes everything a lot more fun.”
Relievers Robbie Dominguez and newcomer Chris Kirkland polished off the shutout for an Everett team that appeared down and out after a recent stretch of 12 losses in 14 games.
But the current winning streak has the Sox (21-29) headed back in the right direction. And with no other team running away with the Northwest League’s West Division, Everett still finds itself in the hunt, just six games behind first-place Salem-Keizer.
“The players know that we struggled earlier, so now they know we have to put everything together, and they’ve had real good results,” Everett manager Jose Moreno said. “If somebody’s going to play hard they’re going to get something sooner or later, and right now they’re having a real good time.”
For the second straight night Everett managed just four hits, and for the second straight night that proved enough. Nate Tenbrink’s sacrifice fly in the fifth inning and Travis Howell’s RBI double in the sixth provided all the offense the Sox needed.
That’s because of a collective pitching effort that was as good as any produced by the Sox this season.
It began with LaFromboise, who looked like a pitcher who’s put his dead-arm issues behind him. Making his fourth start — and first longer than three innings — since missing two weeks because of a tired arm, the crafty lefty was nearly perfect. In five shutout innings he allowed just two hits, striking out six.
“It felt great,” LaFromboise said of his performance. “I had two pitches working for me early, and then when the curveball was going down the changeup was working even better. I had at least two pitches working for me the whole night, which was very key.
“I was throwing the change to set up the fastball or another change,” LaFromboise added. “I think I have pretty good control with my changeup, so that helps me out a lot.”
When LaFromboise departed it would have been understandable had Sox fans felt some concern. Everett’s bullpen has been an adventure much of the season, with Dominguez in particular going through hard times. Coming into the game the Dominguez had a team-high ERA of 9.00.
But Dominguez was a different pitcher Thursday. In three innings the right-hander gave up just one single. Of his nine outs six came via grounder, two by strikeout and one from a popup.
“Today his key was he threw his fastball for a strike,” Moreno said of Dominguez. “He’s not a power pitcher, he needs to command and locate his fastball and then he can work with his breaking pitches. That’s what he did today and that’s why he had three real good innings.”
Kirkland, making his Sox debut, worked himself out of a jam in the ninth, striking out cleanup hitter Johnny Bowden with runners on second and third to end the game and earn the save.
Tri-City (23-27) was led by starting pitcher Jonnathan Aristil. The right-hander nearly matched LaFromboise, but tired toward the end of this stint. In six innings he gave up two runs — one each in the fifth and sixth — on three hits and three walks, striking out six.
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