EVERETT – Jeff Gilmore had the Eugene Emeralds scratching their heads.
Armed with an unimposing fastball, and a breaking ball with little bite, there isn’t much at first glance to indicate he’d have much success getting professional hitters out.
And yet, Gilmore had the Emeralds flailing more futily than a child trying to catch a butterfly.
Gilmore turned in one of the best starts of the season for Everett with eight outstanding innings, and the AquaSox defeated the Emeralds 6-1 Tuesday night in a Northwest League game.
“Gilmore’s been throwing the ball great all year,” Everett manager Pedro Grifol said. “He’s a strike thrower. He’s aggressive even though he doesn’t throw hard. You can’t say enough about the way he threw the ball and his mound presence.”
Reed Eastley and Trevor Heid slugged home runs and Bryan Sabatella scored three runs for Everett (17-18), which moved ahead of Eugene (16-19) into third place in the West Division.
But it was Gilmore who did the heavy work for Everett. Despite a fastball in the mid-80s, Gilmore, making his first start of the season, had the Eugene hitters completely befuddled. In eight innings he gave up one run on six hits, walking none and striking out seven.
“I don’t have the fastball in the 90s and I don’t have the slider from hell or the knee-buckling breaking ball,” Gilmore said. “So to win I need to throw pitches where the hitters don’t want to hit them. I have to keep the ball down and find different spots.”
Gilmore was also extremely efficient. He needed just 90 pitches in his eight innings, 65 of which were strikes. He only went to a three-ball count on a batter once. Most of his strikeouts had the Eugene batters waving ineffectually at an offspeed pitch.
“He absolutely had (the Emeralds) frustrated,” Everett catcher Daniel Santin said. “He’s not going to blow you away with his stuff, but he stuff is still good. He has an above-average changeup and he’s able to spot his fastball, which really messes the hitters up.”
Gilmore deflected the credit, instead directing it towards others.
“I was really pleased with the calls I was getting from the umpire,” Gilmore said. “I felt fortunate. There were a couple of balls hit hard that the guys did a great job running down in the outfield. Then in the infield (third baseman Ronnie) Prettyman and (shortstop Rob) Hudson took a couple hits away. So I feel fortunate.”
But Eugene manager Roy Howell was quick to credit Gilmore, too.
“He did a nice job of hitting his spots and changing speeds,” Eugene manager Roy Howell said. “When a guy pitches like that you try to scratch a few out and get a big hit. That didn’t happen for us today. You have to tip your hat to him for doing a good job.”
Everett jumped out front in the bottom of the first inning with an unearned run. Casey Craig, who led off by reaching on an error, stole second, and then scored when Eastley dumped a bloop single into left, giving the AquaSox a 1-0 lead.
Everett doubled its lead in the second thanks to another unearned run. This time Sabatella led off by reaching on an error. He stole second, took third on Hudson’s sacrifice bunt, then scored on Craig’s bunt single, making it 2-0.
The AquaSox continued the trend in the third, but this time there was no doubt about whether the run was earned, Eastley blasting a shot over the netting behind the center-field wall for a solo home run, increasing the lead to 3-0. The homer was Eastley’s first of the season.
The Emeralds finally broke up Gilmore’s shutout in the fifth when Daryl Jones lined a homer out to left, his fourth of the season cutting the lead to 3-1.
Everett struck again in the sixth. Heid led off with a home run to center, his third of the season, and Mike Saunders lined an RBI double to center, giving the Sox a 5-1 lead.
The Sox tacked on their final run in the eighth, Sabatella scoring on Craig’s RBI groundout, making it 6-1.
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