EVERETT – If the Everett AquaSox were a children’s toy, they’d be a motorized robot with a power switch jutting out from its spine.
And while it might be unclear just who flipped that switch, it remains firmly in the on position.
Everett’s offense continued its remarkable about face Tuesday afternoon, racking up another eight runs as the AquaSox defeated the Tri-City Dust Devils 8-6 at Everett Memorial Stadium.
It’s been a remarkable transformation for Everett (22-26). Two weeks ago the AquaSox looked like a team that would struggle scoring runs on a softball field. But now the Frogs are putting up rec league slowpitch numbers, and that’s been the main factor in winning eight of their past nine.
“We’re swinging the bats well,” Everett manager Mike Tosar said. “We’re getting better at bats. We’ve been working on that from the beginning of the season and the hard work we’re putting in is starting to pay off.”
Jim Davenport went 4-for-5 with three RBI and Welington Dotel and Craig Hurba each homered for Everett, which pounded out 14 hits.
“Everybody’s swinging the bat really well,” Davenport said. “Everybody hit well during the homestand. Everybody’s doing a lot of early work swinging in the cages and just taking care of business.”
Rob Harmon earned the win, tossing five solid innings before running into trouble in the sixth. He improved to 2-5. Bryan Harris got the final five outs to earn his fourth save.
Josh Banda went 4-for-4 for Tri-City (19-29), which saw all its momentum blunted by the series with Everett. The Dust Devils came into the series riding a six-game winning streak, but they managed to take just one of five against the Sox.
“You have to give them credit,” Tri-City manager Freddie Ocasio said. “They came out and scored runs early in the game. We battled back, but came up short.
“They hit the ball well all series,” Ocasio added. “They know their park, they take advantage of their park by hitting the ball to right-center field.”
Everett’s offensive turnaround couldn’t be more stark. The Sox came into the current stretch scuffling, having scored just 41 runs in 14 games, a rate of 2.9 per game. Everett lost 12 of those 14 games.
But the past nine games have been a different story as the Sox scored 62 runs, good for 6.9 per game and completely reversing Everett’s fortunes.
“It’s just a gradual thing,” Tosar said about the transformation. “(Kalian) Sams is starting to swing the bat for us. It was great to see Davenport have some big at bats today. Guys are starting to contribute.”
The offense staked Everett to a 6-0 lead, which it was just able to hold. Davenport’s RBI double in the first opened the scoring. The Sox got three more in the fourth on Dotel’s two-run homer to right-center and Roberto Mena’s RBI single. Then a run-scoring error and a line-drive solo homer by Hurba in the fifth gave Everett a seemingly safe lead.
However, the Dust Devils rallied. Five hits, including three doubles, led to four runs in the sixth. Then after Everett scored one in the bottom of the sixth, the Dust Devils scored two more in the eighth on RBI doubles by Kevin Clark and Banda to close within one.
However, Harris came in to end the threat and secure the win.
Harmon cruised through the first five innings, giving up no runs and five singles. However, Tri-City figured the big right-hander out in the sixth as all four runs were charged to Harmon. He finished with 52/3 innings, giving up nine hits, one walk and striking out one.
Tri-City starter Drew Coffey faced just two batters before leaving the game with an arm injury. Ocasio described it as a sore shoulder that will probably keep the left-hander sidelined at least one start.
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