EVERETT — How does a baseball team recover from surrendering 18 runs in a game?
A strong outing by the next day’s starting pitcher does the trick.
Taylor Lewis gave the Everett AquaSox just what they needed following a rough defeat, and the Sox rebounded by thumping the Spokane Indians 12-1 on a chilly Thursday night at Everett Memorial Stadium.
Lewis was in complete control throughout his six innings as Everett (3-3) quickly forgot the horrors of Wednesday’s 18-9 loss to the Indians.
“It was absolutely important,” Lewis responded when asked the importance of a quality start following Wednesday’s debacle. “My job tonight was to come out and throw strikes and make it happen, not let my teammates get back on their heels.”
Blake Trinkler homered, Mario Martinez doubled twice and Welington Dotel reached base four times to lead Everett’s offense, which also took advantage of Spokane wildness to make Lewis’ job easier — the Sox drew six walks and were hit by pitches four times.
“Guys came back,” Everett manager John Tamargo said. “They could have hung their heads after (Wednesday’s) game, but they battled back.”
Trinkler then took one on the chin, literally, later in the game. In the bottom of the sixth inning Trinkler turned to bunt and took a Kevin Castner fastball off his chin. Trinkler appeared OK, but came out of the game.
Vincent DiFazio homered for the second straight game to provide Spokane’s lone run. The Indians dropped to 3-3.
Lewis turned in his second straight solid start. The right-hander’s fastball wasn’t overpowering, but he kept it down and hit is spots. He allowed the lone run, walking none and striking out five to improve to 2-0.
“Everything was on tonight,” Lewis said of his stuff. “My fastball command was good, my changeup was excellent and the curveball really helped out, too.”
It seems the Sox may have an ace in the making. Lewis was given the opening-night start in large part because of his command. After back-to-back starts of giving up one run in six innings, he appears to have settled comfortably into the Northwest League.
“He attacked the zone, pitched inside, kept his pitches down,” Tamargo said of Lewis. “He has an idea how to pitch.
“He opened up for us and has been what we thought,” Tamargo added. “He can command the strike zone, so we felt real comfortable with him opening up and handling this league. Hopefully he’ll continue to throw that way.”
Everett opened the scoring in the bottom of the third inning when Trinkler drove a solo home run over the center-field fence, giving the Sox a 1-0 lead.
Spokane tied it in the fourth when DiFazio lofted a fly ball to right that just carried over the fence, tying it at 1-1. It was the second straight game in which DiFazio homered.
Everett regained the lead in the bottom of the fourth with a little help from the Indians. Martinez struck out, but reached on a wild pitch. Guy Welsh doubled Martinez to third, then Martinez scored on another wild pitch, making it 2-1.
The Sox padded their lead in the fifth. With two out Martinez sliced a double down the right-field line, scoring two runs and giving the Sox a 4-1 lead.
Then it got ugly in the sixth. Castner came in and faced six batters, walking two and hitting three. He hit each of the last two batters he faced to force home two runs. Geuris Grullon relieved Castner and merely fanned the flames. A further stream of hits and walks resulted in eight runs being scored in the inning as it became a 12-1 laugher.
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