EVERETT — Sometimes the difference between winning and losing comes down to a single inch. Or a single second. One player puts in just an extra ounce of effort to tilt the outcome in his team’s favor, and that can change everything.
So, in the bottom of the first against the Spokane Indians at Funko Field on Friday, when Everett AquaSox designated hitter Charlie Pagliarini grounded into a force out at second, but beat out the throw to first to avoid the inning-ending double play and allow shortstop Felnin Celesten to reach home, that extra effort made the difference in scoring a run.
Pagliarini followed it up by putting himself into scoring position, timing his steal to second so well that he strolled in standing. He clapped his hands as his teammate Tai Peete jumped up and down in the on-deck circle, hyping his friend up.
No one brought Pagliarini home, so the inning ended with Everett leading 1-0, but AquaSox manager Zach Vincej greeted Pagliarini with a big smile and a pat on the chest coming off the field.
“He had a really good stolen base that we’ve been working on,” Vincej said. “We’ve been talking about for him to start moving a little bit on the bases, and he had a great jump on that, so it was just a fun little moment for us.”
Sometimes, those plays make all the difference. Sometimes, they make none at all.
The AquaSox committed four fielding errors in the top of the second, misplaying grounders and making errant throws as the Indians cycled through their order and scored 10 runs. Spokane catcher Cole Messina put the exclamation point on the rally with a two-run homer to put the Indians into double-digits.
In the end, that’s all Spokane would need. Everett scored one more run in the bottom of the second to make it 10-2, but that score would stand through the rest of the game. The effort in the first inning was all for naught.
“It really just came down to that inning,” Vincej said. “Obviously a nightmare of an inning, but you know, there’s plenty of ballgame left and you just got to keep fighting all the way to the end.”
The breakdown started with first baseman Brandon Eike mishandling a grounder that otherwise would have set starting pitcher William Fleming up with two outs through the first two batters of the inning. Instead, the Indians hit three straight singles to go up 2-1, and a fourth single brought in another one on a throwing error from outfielder Jonny Farmelo.
Spokane loaded the bases with a walk, and back-to-back errors from the middle infield — a missed throw by second baseman Carter Dorighi and a fumbled grounder by Celesten — turned what would have been the final two outs into three more Spokane runs.
“I don’t know, (it’s) just things happened,” Dorighi said. “Just got to keep going.”
The AquaSox made a pitching change, turning to Jacob Denner, but the Indians put up four more runs before Everett could get out of the inning. Given all the errors, only two of Spokane’s 10 runs were earned, with both tagged to Fleming.
Denner settled in for the remaining four innings he pitched, not allowing another run or a single walk to go with six total hits allowed. Despite his team trailing by eight, Denner remained committed to the task at hand.
“That’s kind of where as an individual and as a coaching staff and everybody, just like, go and do your job,” Denner said. “Treat each inning like its own, so just every inning, honing in on putting up a zero, even though the deficit was pretty big.”
By the end of the night, he even lowered his ERA from 1.29 to 0.77, albeit with a small sample size (11.2 innings this season).
Ben Hernandez contributed two scoreless innings of relief as well before infielder Milkar Perez pitched the ninth with the game more than out of reach.
After the first two innings, Everett’s offense generated four hits and two walks, only coming close to scoring when outfielder Anthony Donofrio attempted to reach home on a double from infielder Brandon Eike, but Spokane made the play at the plate.
Vincej couldn’t pick out a particular player that stepped up after falling down 10-2, but he was satisfied with the overall effort.
“I think it was a collective, collective group,” Vincej said. “Everybody was putting together some good ABs after that. We played solid defense after the second inning, so I think it was a collective thing.”
With two outs in the eighth inning and a runner on first, the count was 1-0 for third baseman Luis Suisbel. The 22-year-old fouled off two pitches low and outside the zone before whiffing on strike three to end the inning.
Suisbel whipped his bat to the dirt, holding the top of the barrel with the knob-side down, and remained standing in the batter’s box as he removed his helmet and arm guard. If the last swing was timed differently, it may have led to a base hit, or better.
Then again, it probably would not have made a difference.
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