Pagliarini snaps hitless streak — but extends on-base streak

EVERETT — Zach Vincej walked out towards second base.

The Everett AquaSox manager, who was positioned as the third base coach in Friday’s game against the Spokane Indians at Funko Field, met second baseman Charlie Pagliarini in the middle of the base path after the umpire granted a timeout.

The 24-year-old Pagliarini unstrapped his elbow and leg guards and handed them over to his manager, who dapped him up while taking the pads from him. The two shared a laugh.

“He got jammed a little bit (in that at bat),” Vincej said after the game. “Sometimes you just have to have fun, you know? And I was making fun of him out there a little bit.”

Pagliarini had plenty of reasons to smile. It was only the fourth inning, but he had just hit his third double of the day, which was a career-high. After scoring two runs and driving in a third, Pagliarini helped the AquaSox defeat Spokane 7-1 to win their third game in a row.

With his three-hit day, the former 19th-round pick snapped a five-game hitless streak, and he wasted no time doing so. Leading off the bottom of the first, Pagliarini connected on the first pitch from Indians starter Braxton Hyde. In the second inning, he hit an RBI double on the second pitch of the at-bat, which was high and away.

“I’m just looking for something over the middle,” Pagliarini said. “I got a good pitch to hit (in) the first at bat, got a good pitch at the second (at) bat, and kind of stubbed one — the third one — but it all works out.”

In the third at-bat, Pagliarini worked a 2-0 count before taking the third pitch, which was tracked outside the zone but called strike one. Pagliarini stood up and grimaced in disagreement, but stayed silent. He fouled off pitch four before getting it to a full count on a pitch that painted the bottom corner of the zone, but was ultimately called a ball.

Finally, he got his bat on a pitch high and inside, and it found a gap that allowed him to leg out yet another two-bagger.

Despite his hitless streak — which started following Everett’s 9-5 win against the Hillsboro Hops on July 18, when he tied the game with an RBI single in the eighth inning before walking it off with a grand slam in the ninth — Pagliarini had still been getting on base consistently.

The Trumbull, Conn. native’s performance on Friday extended his on-base streak to eight games. While he was aided by being hit by a pair of pitches in Thursday’s 3-2 win, he also hit a sacrifice fly in Wednesday’s 4-1 win and drew four total walks across the five hitless games, maintaining production in the leadoff spot.

Aside from Pagliarini, four other AquaSox batters had a multi-hit game, including Carter Dorighi, the recent call-up from Single-A Modesto who went 3-for-4 after going 0-for-7 over his first two games in High-A. Still adjusting to the move, Dorighi is focused on sticking to his routine that gave him success in Modesto.

“Just feeling more comfortable in being myself and helping the guys out,” Dorighi said. “(I’m) looking to be a team player.”

Dorighi’s single to lead off the second inning sparked a rally, which included Pagliarini’s RBI double to make it 2-0. By the end of the night, the AquaSox had 13 hits, which was as many as their previous two games combined.

On some nights, everything clicks. It certainly did for Pagliarini, and he’ll gladly take it no matter the circumstances.

“It’s funny how baseball works,” Pagliarini said. “Sometimes you hit it hard and it gets caught, and sometimes you hit it soft and it’s a double. So just you celebrate the small victories like that.”