EVERETT — No matter how hard the Everett AquaSox tried to stage a ninth-inning comeback Saturday night, the baseball fates were not in a mood to cooperate.
Despite a valiant ninth-inning effort, the Sox found themselves on the wrong side of a number of close calls and fell just short, losing
5-4 to the Eugene Emeralds at Everett Memorial Stadium.
Everett, which came into the ninth trailing 5-3, managed to put four runners on base in the inning. However, only one of those runners made it home as the Sox saw two critical calls go Eugene’s way.
It began with Jarrett Burgess doubling and Nathan Melendres reaching on an error, giving Everett runners at the corners with one out. On the next pitch Melendres lit out for second. Catcher Matthew Colantonio’s throw arrived at the same time as Melendres and Melendres was called out, prompting Sox manager Scott Steinmann to come onto the field for a vigorous argument.
After Marcus Littlewood’s infield single brought home Burgess and made it a one-run game, Danny Lopez then sent a liner deep down the right-field line. The ball landed as close to the line as possible, but it was called foul, drawing a howl of prostests from the crowd. Littlewood, who took off from first the moment the ball was hit, would have had a good chance to make it home and tie the score.
Instead, Lopez blooped a single into center. Littlewood advanced to third, and Lopez was given second base on indifference, putting the winning run into scoring position.
James Wood had the chance to play hero for Everett, but Eugene reliever Kevin Quackenbush struck him out looking on yet another borderline call to end the game.
“We gave it a run,” Steinmann said. “It’s good to fight back in the ninth inning. The guys didn’t give up. That’s what you want, you want guys to keep fighting and do whatever it takes to win a ballgame. That’s what we did tonight, so I’m proud of them.
“Inches and tenths of a second are wins and losses in ballgames. We came up on the losing end tonight.”
At least Everett ended its long stretch of offensive futility. The Sox had gone 17 innings without scoring before Mike Dowd clubbed a three-run home run in the bottom of the sixth.
Daniel Garce homered to lead the way for Eugene (7-2), which won its fourth straight. The Emeralds scored five runs despite managing just four hits, though Eugene was the beneficiary of six walks and two critical Everett errors.
Colin Rea earned the win for Eugene, tossing five scoreless innings. Rea had a somewhat unusually effective outing. He didn’t have his best control and was constantly working from a three-ball count. But he avoided getting hurt as he walked just two and struck out six. Rea was helped by the Sox taking four called third strikes.
Quackenbush picked up the save, his fourth of the season.
Dowd, Littlewood, Lopez and Mario Yepez each had two hits for Everett (3-6), which dropped its third straight.
Everett pitcher Jordan Shipers had something of a Jeckyll and Hyde start. The 19-year-old left-hander fanned seven in his 41/3 innings, using his change-up to great effect. However, he walked four and gave up four runs, three of which can be traced back to a play on which Shipers committed two errors.
That play happened in the top of the second. With a runner on first and one out, Mykal Stokes bunted back to the mound. However, Shipers had the ball get through him for one error, then in his haste to recover he threw to an empty first base for a second error. Lee Orr scored all the way from first on the play. Later in the inning Stokes scored on a groundout and Clint Moore added an RBI single, staking the Emeralds to a 3-0 lead.
The Emeralds tacked on another run in the fourth when Garce hammered the first pitch of the inning out to left, making it 4-0.
Dowd got Everett back in the game with one swing of the bat in the sixth. With two on and two out Dowd crushed a pitch from reliever Paul Bingham out to dead center. The homer, Dowd’s first as a professional, made it 4-3.
Eugene got what proved to be the winning run in the seventh when Cory Spangenberg dumped an RBI single into left to make it a two-run advantage.
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