EVERETT – No, it may not have been a quintessential game-deciding hit, not the sharp line drive that eludes a diving infielder’s grasp or the long fly ball that disappears over a leaping outfielder’s glove.
But when Welington Dotel’s high pop fly fell just between the scrambling attempts of two Spokane Indians fielders, to the Everett AquaSox it looked as beautiful as anything found in the Louvre.
Dotel’s normally routine pop up turned into the go-ahead double in the bottom of the seventh inning, and the AquaSox prevailed in a pitching duel to defeat the Indians 2-1 Tuesday night at Everett Memorial Stadium.
“It doesn’t have to be pretty,” Everett Manager Mike Tosar remarked with a grin.
The game-winning run made a deserving winner out of starting pitcher Edward Paredes. The left-hander pitched seven strong innings, keeping the Sox in the game until they scratched a run together in the seventh.
The Indians managed to get a runner to third in the ninth against Everett closer Bryan Harris, but Harris got the final out on grounder to first base to pick up his fifth save.
The victory was Everett’s third in four games after losing six straight prior to that. The Sox improved to 26-35.
“We’ve been struggling a little bit lately, so any win was a good win,” said Everett’s Joe Dunigan, who scored the winning run. “But this one was even better because it was a close game. It came down to the end and everybody did a good job.”
It wasn’t all perfect for Everett. Leading hitter Gregory Halman was removed from the game after three innings. Tosar declined to comment on Halman’s removal. However, Halman didn’t budge from the plate after hitting his inning-ending pop-up in the third and was replaced by Jermaine Brock when the team took the field for the fourth.
Derek Holland struck out 10 in six innings and Mitch Moreland had two hits to lead Spokane (29-31).
The game was a classic pitchers’ duel between Paredes and Holland. Paredes gave up just one run on two hits and three walks, striking out six. He was matched by Holland, who also allowed just one run on two hits.
It wasn’t until the Sox got into Spokane’s bullpen that they were able to break the 1-1 deadlock. Against reliever Tommy Hunter in the seventh, the Sox got runners at second and third with one out on Dunigan’s single and Kalian Sams’ double.
Then with the infield playing in to cut down the run at the plate, Dotel popped a two-strike breaking ball up to shallow right. Had second baseman Matt Lawson been playing at normal depth, it probably would have been caught. Instead it fell just between Lawson and on-rushing right fielder Victor Barrios, the pair crashing into one another. It ended up an RBI double that gave the Sox a 2-1 lead.
It was a welcome two-strike result for a team that’s been plagued by strikeouts lately.
“It was a two-strike hit,” Tosar said with relief. “He was just trying to get a piece of it. He got a breaking ball and he put it in play. When you put the ball in play things happen. That’s what we’ve been talking about.”
That hit made a winner out of Paredes, who improved to 7-4. Paredes was particularly effective with his curveball and changeup.
“It was a great performance by Paredes, pitching seven strong innings,” Tosar said. “He was throwing all his pitches for strikes today. It was a dominating performance.”
Everett opened the scoring in the bottom of the third inning. Jeff Dunbar led off by lining a single to center. He advanced to second on a groundout and one out later, Edilio Colina sent a liner to right for a single. Dunbar ran through the stop sign at third base, but still arrived ahead of the throw home, giving the Sox a 1-0 lead.
Spokane tied it in the top of the fourth. Jonathan Greene walked, advanced to second on a wild pitch, took third on a groundout, then scored when Renny Osuna’s hard grounder got past a diving Jim Davenport at third, making it 1-1.
From there the pitchers continued to put zeroes on the board until the the Sox finally put it together in the seventh.
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