EVERETT — When a batter has two strikes against him, that’s generally considered the time to protect. Just make contact and hope to get fortunate.
But two strikes proved no problem for the Vancouver Canadians on Wednesday night.
Vancouver rallied for three runs in the fifth inning, fueled by a series of two-strike base hits, and the Canadians defeated the Everett AquaSox 5-1 at Everett Memorial Stadium.
The first three Vancouver batters in the top of the fifth reached on two-strike hits against Everett starting pitcher Walter Suriel, two of those coming on 0-2 counts. All three — Juan Nunez, J.D. Pruitt and Mitch Levier — eventually came around to score as the Canadians snapped a 1-1 tie.
“Part of the overall educational process for the Oakland A’s (Vancouver’s parent team) is to get deep into counts, to recognize pitches, to manage the strike zone,” Vancouver manager Rick Magnante said. “Subsequently the best example of that was Pruitt tonight. He was on base all five times, first AB he was 0-2 and walked. If more players are able to emulate that kind of approach, they’ve got a better chance to advance and get to higher levels.”
Dustin Coleman added a pair of doubles and Trey Barham pitched five solid innings for the Canadians (29-40), who pulled back even with Everett (29-40) in the race to avoid the Northwest League West Division basement.
Anthony Phillips, Jharmidy DeJesus and Tyson Gillies each had two hits for the Sox. No other Everett batter had a hit.
Suriel, the only Everett pitcher who’s remained in the starting rotation the entire season, was solid for four innings. But the Canadians figured him out in the fifth. Nunez led off by ripping an 0-2 pitch into the right-center gap for a double. Pruitt followed by lining a two-strike single to center, then Levier poked an 0-2 offering the opposite way to left to break the deadlock.
“He gave up hits on 0-2 counts four times,” Everett manager Jose Moreno said of Suriel. “You have to be able to make the adjustment. That can happen one time in a game, but not four times.
“(Suriel) has three major-league pitches,” Moreno continued. “He throws a fastball around 92, a great changeup and a good slider. He has to be able to command those pitches so he can work the hitters with better sequences. He tried to challenge the hitters on 0-2 counts today and he paid for it.”
Jeremy Barfield later added an RBI single and Dusty Napolen hit a sacrifice fly, increasing Vancouver’s lead to 4-1. The lead was never again threatened.
Meanwhile, Everett never got anything going offensively. The Sox’s only run came in the bottom of the third on Anthony Phillips improvised round tripper when his double was augmented by a two-base error.
“We put the ball in play, but we didn’t have too many opportunities with men in scoring position,” Moreno said. “We didn’t have real good contact.”
Part of that was due to Barham. The crafty lefty ended up giving up one run on five hits, striking out three to improve to 3-4. Relievers Matt Fitts, Dan Thomas and Mathieu Leblanc-Poirier combined on four scoreless innings of relief.
Suriel took the loss to fall to 4-5, giving up four runs on seven hits in five innings, striking out three. Javier Martinez was solid in relief, giving up one run in three innings and striking out five.
Vancouver struck first in the top of the second. Coleman roped a double down the left-field line, took third on Francisco Triado’s single and scored on Leonardo Gil’s sacrifice fly to center, giving the Canadians a 1-0 lead.
Everett tied it up in the third. Phillips hit a liner down the right-field line for a double. Barfield, chasing after the ball, slipped on the mound in the Canadians bullpen while attempting to field it. The ball rolled to the wall, and Phillips scoring standing up to make it 1-1.
Short hops: Everett relief pitcher Matt Renfree was promoted to Class AAA Tacoma on Wednesday, the second time this season he’s joined the Rainiers to serve as insurance for a depleted Tacoma bullpen. Renfree, who’d been serving as Everett’s closer, may spend the remainder of the season with the Rainiers. … Gillies had his 17-game hitting streak snapped during Tuesday’s 4-2 victory over the Canadians. Gillies finished 0-for-2 and was unfortunate in that the game was called in the sixth inning because of rain.
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