EVERETT – Complete games in the Northwest League are a rarity.
Having two complete games in a season just doesn’t happen.
Unless your name is Cesar Valdez.
The Yakima Bears pitcher tossed his second complete game of the season Monday at the Everett AquaSox suspense, and Everett fell 4-1 at Everett Memorial Stadium.
“Valdez was just better than we were tonight,” Everett manager Dave Myers said. “He threw everything for strikes, threw a hard slider and had a good change. You have to tip your cap, he pitched a heck of a game. We weren’t able to do much against him tonight.”
Shane Byrne went 2-for-5 with two RBI for Yakima (21-40), which won three games in the five-game series, giving the Bears just their third series victory of the season in 15 tries.
Nobody had more than one hit for Everett (28-33).
With young arms and strict pitch limits, managers are reluctant to allow pitchers to go deep into games, even when he’s throwing well. At least two pitchers, including Everett’s Doug Fister, have been pulled while tossing no-hitters. Last season there was just one complete game thrown in the entire league.
But when one is as efficient as Valdez was Monday, there’s no reason not to let him finish what he started. Valdez (6-4) allowed just three hits – all singles – and struck out seven.
Even more impressive was Valdez’s control. After walking leadoff batter Marcos Villezcas on a 3-2 pitch, Valdez didn’t go to a three-ball count on another batter. As a result, he needed just 102 pitches to complete the nine innings.
Monday’s complete game joined the one he threw on July 20 in a 4-1 victory over Salem-Keizer.
“That was his second complete game of the year and the guy actually finished as strong as he started,” Yakima manager Jay Gainer said.
“When we came into the season he was our No. 1 guy because we knew he had a good idea of how to pitch,” Gainer added. “Really, we’re lucky to have had him this long. With the way the season’s gone so far, guys like that would usually have been out of here by now.”
Everett didn’t help itself by being a little impatient at the plate. The AquaSox were first-pitch swinging most of the game, and Valdez recorded 14 of the 27 outs with three pitches or fewer.
“I don’t know how many pitches he threw, but we didn’t make him run up his pitch totals,” Myers said. “But I don’t know if we were anxious, I just think he was very good.”
Everett starting pitcher Natividad Dilone (2-5) had no chance of matching Valdez. Dilone, who was excellent in his past two starts, was solid but unspectacular Monday. The right-hander lasted 51/3 innings, surrendering four runs – three earned – on seven hits and two walks. He struck out one.
Everett got a good efforts out of relievers Rollie Gibson and Joe Kantakevich, who kept Yakima off the board the final 32/3 innings.
However, with Valdez pitching the way he was, it wasn’t enough. Only Danny Santin, Bryan Sabatella and Jair Fernandez were able to find chinks in Valdez’s armor.
Yakima struck first in the top of the first. Joey Side grounded a one-out double down the right-field line, advanced to third when Fernandez’s pickoff attempt from behind the plate skipped into center, and scored on Blake Sharp’s single through a drawn-in infield, making it 1-0.
The Bears doubled their lead in the fourth. Brad Miller reached on an error, advanced to second on a groundout, then scored on Byrne’s single to center, making it 2-0.
Everett got on the board in the fifth. Sabatella led off with a single, advanced to third on Fernandez’s hit-and-run single, then scored on Leury Bonilla’s sacrifice fly to center, cutting the deficit to 2-1.
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