AquaSoxdust off Tri-Cities

EVERETT – Just when it seemed the Everett AquaSox were losing momentum Wednesday night, they snatched it right back.

Everett responded to losing one five-run lead by building another five-run advantage en route to an 11-7 victory against the Tri-City Dust Devils in a Northwest League game.

Alex Gary went 3-for-4 and Daniel Santin homered for Everett (18-18), which won its third straight.

Pedro Strop, Travis Becktel and Phillip Cuadrado homered for Tri-City (17-19).

It looked as if the AquaSox were losing momentum in the top of the fourth inning when the Dust Devils scored four runs to tie the score at 5-5.

Everett methodically built its lead back up, scoring one in the bottom of the fourth and two in both the fifth and sixth to restore its lead.

“That was the biggest inning of the game,” Everett manager Pedro Grifol said of the fourth. “They got the momentum and we came back and scored some runs and the momentum changed to our side.”

Everett starting pitcher Robert Rohrbaugh got the win to improve to 2-1. The left-hander gave up five runs – four earned – in five innings. He surrendered six hits and four walks and struck out six.

Rollie Gibson pitched three innings of relief, giving up back-to-back homers to Becktel and Cuadrado in the eighth. Cory Koliscak polished it off with a perfect ninth.

“Rohrbaugh threw the ball real well,” Grifol said. “He made one bad pitch that kind of turned things around a little bit, but overall I thought it was a nice performance by Rohrbaugh. Gibson then did a nice job of coming in and throwing strikes. Even after he gave up those two home runs he maintained his composure and went after that last hitter.”

Tri-City starter David Patton took the loss to fall to 3-5.