EVERETT – The Everett AquaSox are in need of a mechanic.
Everything appears to be broken for Everett right now. Whether it’s the offense, defense or pitching, all of it seems in dire need of fixing.
Everett’s struggles continued in all facets of the game yet again Tuesday night. The result was another loss as the AquaSox fell 8-5 to the Boise Hawks at Everett Memorial Stadium.
Everything went wrong for the AquaSox. Everett’s offense was punchless before teasing the home fans in the bottom of the ninth; Everett’s defense committed a pair of crucial errors; and the AquaSox pitchers were unable to slow Boise’s bats.
As a result, Everett (14-15) lost its fifth straight to fall below .500 for the first time this season. Since opening the season 8-1, the AquaSox are a meager 6-14.
During the current losing streak the AquaSox have been outscored 41-14.
“Right now we don’t have one area we can play into,” Everett manager Dave Myers lamented. “We can’t play into a strong defense, we can’t make mistakes and think we’re going to get the runs back, and we can’t get one or two runs and think we can shut them out. There’s not one strength we can play into right now. I think we have strengths, but they haven’t shown through in the last five games.”
Steven Clevenger was 3-for-3 with a home run and Tyler Colvin was 2-for-4 with two doubles and three RBI for Boise (16-13), which won its third straight.
Gregory Halman, Chao Wu and Ogui Diaz each had two hits for Everett, which left 13 men on base.
Boise coasted with the lead until the bottom of the ninth, when Everett at least made it interesting for the handful of faithful fans who waited it out. Thanks to three walks and a slip while fielding a chopper by reliever Jeremy Papelbon, the AquaSox scored two runs to close within three, and Everett had the bases loaded with two out.
Gavin Dickey then ripped a line drive, but Clevenger at second base climbed the ladder to snag the ball and end the game.
Everett starting pitcher Ricky Orta (2-1) was unable to follow up on an impressive debut in the starting rotation five days earlier. Orta was unable to get through the third inning, giving up four runs in 22/3 innings. He surrendered five hits, one walk and struck out two.
The AquaSox are now left wondering what it’s going to take to make the necessary across-the-board improvements.
“We need to do a lot of different things,” Myers said. “Our starters need to pitch considerably better, our defense needs to play considerably better, and we need to put more runs on the board.”
Boise starting pitcher Billy Petrick earned the win to remain perfect at 4-0, though his start was somewhat messy. In five innings the right-hander gave up six hits and four walks, but escaped having given up just three runs – two earned. Petrick struck out four.
Jayson Ruhlman relieved Petrick and smoked through the Everett lineup, striking out five in three scoreless innings, before the AquaSox created some drama against Papelbon in the ninth.
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