PASCO – Ruben Flores ventured into uncharted territory Sunday, and he seemed right at home.
But within minutes of leaving the mound after he pitched superbly during a season-high eight innings, Flores and the Everett AquaSox fell victim to a stunning comeback. The Tri-City Dust Devils rallied for two runs in the bottom of the ninth for a 3-2 victory against Everett in a Northwest League game at Tri-Cities Stadium.
Flores, a right-hander, struck out six and allowed one run on five hits, but Everett reliever Joe Woerman (0-1) gave up two singles and threw a wild pitch in the ninth that led to the tying and winning runs for Tri-City (13-11). Florentino Nunez scored the tying run from third base on the wild pitch and Matt Macri came home for the game-winner on Erik Dean’s single off Brandon Perry, who relieved Woerman.
Before Sunday, Flores hadn’t pitched more than six innings this season for first-place Everett, which fell to 15-9 and leads Salem-Keizer by one game in the West Division. The AquaSox dropped three of five games at Tri-City, marking Everett’s first series loss this year.
Brent Johnson had a two-run single in the fifth for the AquaSox, who play Yakima at 7:05 p.m. Tuesday at Everett Memorial Stadium. Left-hander Shawn Nottingham (3-0, 0.36 earned run average) will start.
Everett managed just two hits Sunday but led 2-0 through five innings. Tri-City starter Steven Register allowed two runs and two hits in six innings, but he hit and walked a total of four batters – two each. Reliever Jim Miller (1-0) struck out all three batters he faced to earn the victory for the Dust Devils.
Tri-City pulled to within 2-1 in the sixth on John Restrepo’s sacrifice fly.
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