EVERETT — The Everett AquaSox bats have been far from potent so far this season.
Thursday night they reached hibernation level.
Everett’s offense continued to struggle, mustering just two hits in a 10-1 loss to the Boise Hawks at Everett Memorial Stadium.
“Offensively we didn’t have enough, just two hits,” Everett manager Jose Moreno said. “It was one of those nights where everything was bad.”
Everett barely had a sniff of a rally. The Sox struck out 12 times, and the final 13 Everett batters were retired in order. Boise plated four runs in the top of the first inning, and for all intents and purposes the game was over before the Sox even came to bat.
“It was rough all the way around,” said Everett third baseman Nate Tenbrink, who provided the lone Everett highlight with his solo home run in the fourth inning.
“I don’t know what it is,” Tenbrink added. “We might be swinging a little bit overaggressive. I know I’m swinging a little bit overaggressive. It seems like we’re swinging at a lot of bad pitches, that might be the main reason to it.”
Ryan Flaherty went 3-for-4 with a homer and three RBI, and Boise pitchers Casey Coleman, Mike Perconte and Jake Muyco combined to stymie Everett’s offense as the Hawks won the rubber game of the five-game series.
“We have to give credit to them,” Moreno said. “They were aggressive, they threw strikes. But we didn’t swing the bat very well.”
Thursday night’s anemic offensive output was just the latest symptom of a Sox team that hasn’t really hit yet this season. Everett came into the game batting a miserly .217 through its first nine games. And it was a punchless .217 as the Sox managed just three home runs and 14 total extra-base hits during that span. Those numbers didn’t get any better Thursday.
The Sox have managed to stay competitive thanks to some timely individual pitching performances, along with an aggressive attitude on the bases, a formula that has allowed Everett to win the close games and lose the blowouts. So despite the fact the Sox have been outscored 61-34, they are just two games under .500 at 4-6.
But how long can that formula hold up?
“Most of the time our hitters get down two strikes,” Moreno said. “When you’re in the hole you have to be on defense, just try to put the ball in play. It’s real difficult as a hitter to get real good contact with two strikes. Maybe we need to be more aggressive early in the count, look for fastballs and try to hit the ball right away.”
While Everett’s bats remained silent, the Sox didn’t get that timely pitching performance necessary to compensate. It was a short night for Everett starter Kenta Suda. The right-hander from Japan was pulled after just one ineffective inning of work, during which his three outs were recorded on two long sacrifice flies and a runner caught stealing.
“As a manager you’re hoping your starter goes five or six innings, then you try to use your bullpen,” Moreno said. “But you could tell from the first pitch. He was behind in the count and never tried to get his control. Maybe it was one of those nights where he wasn’t feeling good.”
Moreno said Suda, because of his short outing, may be fresh enough to pitch during Everett’s upcoming three-game series at Salem-Keizer.
Boise jumped all over Suda in the top of the first. Of the first seven batters, five reached base, and the two that didn’t, Josh Vitters and Kyler Burke, had well-hit sacrifice flys to center field. Michael Brenley later added a two-run single down the right-field line, and Boise has a 4-0 lead before the Sox even came up to bat.
Boise added another run in the third, loading the bases before Burke sent another sacrifice fly to the warning track in center, making it 5-0.
Everett got itself on the board in the fourth. Several well-hit balls earlier in the game died in the cool air, but Tenbrink left no doubt when he crushed a full-count pitch over the wall in right-center for a solo shot, his second homer of the season making it 5-1.
But Boise quickly got that run back in the top of the fifth when Flaherty lined a ball into the homer porch in right, his second of the season making it 6-1. The Hawks added another in the sixth on Ryan Sontag’s sacrifice fly, then turned it into a laugher with three more in the eighth.
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