Inside-the-park grand slam, stellar pitching lift AquaSox

EUGENE, Ore. — The Everett AquaSox continue to roll.

Larry Gonzalez hit an inside-the-park grand slam home run, and three Sox pitchers combined on a six-hit shutout as Everett defeated the Eugene Emeralds 5-0 Tuesday night in a Northwest League game.

The victory was Everett’s fourth straight, and the Sox have won eight of their past 10 as they remained in first place in the West Division. Everett, which is 14-7 in the second half, broke the .500 barrier overall (30-29) for the first time since the first week of the season.

Cameron Hobson, Brian Leigh and Jeroen de Haas combined on the shutout for Everett. The shutout was Everett’s fourth of the season.

Hobson, making just his second start since being inserted into the rotation, threw five scoreless innings to pick up his first win as a professional. The left-hander allowed four hits and two walks and struck out five.

Everett manager Scott Steinmann was ejected in the top of the fifth inning arguing Jabari Blash’s ground-rule double should have been ruled a home run.

Eugene, which left the bases loaded twice, fell to 10-11 and 34-25.

Eugene starting pitcher Colin Rea came into the game having allowed just four earned runs in 41 innings. However, the Sox threatened in each of the first two innings, then broke through in the third.

There were two out and nobody on when a hit batter and a walk set up Jetsy Extrano for an RBI single up the middle to open the scoring. After another hit batter — Rea’s fourth of the game — Gonzalez sent a shot into the left-field corner that ended up going for an inside-the-park grand slam, giving the Sox a 5-0 lead.

That was more than enough for Everett’s pitching. Hobson worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the fifth, then de Haas left the bases loaded in the eighth to maintain the shutout.