EVERETT — In 1995, the Seattle Mariners adopted the slogan “Refuse to lose,” and improbably overcame what appeared to be an insurmountable deficit to overtake the California Angels for the American League West title.
Thirteen years later one of Seattle’s farm teams seems to be channeling the spirit of those ‘95 M’s, with Sunday afternoon providing the best evidence to date.
The Everett AquaSox displayed every aspect of the “Refuse to lose” mentality, digging themselves out of hole after hole, and the Sox kept their winning ways alive by beating the Tri-City Dust Devils 7-6 in 11 innings.
In a remarkable game at Everett Memorial Stadium that saw the Sox overcome deficits in both the ninth and 10th innings to stay alive, Ryan Royster’s gapper with two out in the bottom of the 11th scored Tyson Gillies from second, extending Everett’s winning streak to seven.
“That was definitely the most exciting game of the year,” said Gillies, who also had a crucial two-run single to tie it in the ninth.
“There’s definitely something special going on,” Gillies added. “The last six, seven games everything just turned around. Everybody’s coming together and right now we can’t lose.”
Welington Dotel and Fleming Baez also came up with crucial RBI hits in the late innings for the Sox (24-29), who take their season-high winning streak to Yakima for a five-game series beginning tonight.
And now the Sox, afterthoughts in the Northwest League’s West Division race for most of the season, are beginning to believe.
“We got on a roll and we’ve just stuck with it,” Royster said. “We’ve had some rough times, we’ve had some good times, and we’re just sticking with our same approach. We’re playing hard and staying positive. We’re a good team, we feel like we’re a playoff team, and we’re just going to continue to try and make this push.”
That push appeared to be over going into the bottom of the ninth. Everett trailed 5-1, with Northwest League saves leader Austin Chambliss taking the mound for the Dust Devils.
But the Sox refused to relent. Jharmidy DeJesus’s sacrifice fly made it 5-2, and that’s when the fun really began. With two out Luis Nunez’s chopper down the third-base line somehow stayed fair to put runners at the corners. Dotel singled home a run and took second on an ill-advised throw by right fielder Leonardo Reyes. Then on an 0-2 pitch Gillies smacked a single to right, scoring both runners to tie it up at 5-5.
“That’s a really safe lead for the other team I’d have to say, four runs is pretty big,” Gillies said. “But we just kept chipping away. We didn’t change anything, nobody tried to get too big and go for the big home run or anything. We just played our game.”
Tri-City’s Thomas Field blasted a solo home run in the top of the 10th to seemingly render Everett’s comeback null. But again the Sox rallied with two out. Manelik Pimentel doubled, then Baez blooped a single just in front of center fielder Scott Robinson, allowing pinch runner Nate Tenbrink to score and tie it up again.
Then in the 11th Gillies drew a two-out walk, stole second and scored on what ended up being a long single by Royster.
“Tyson’s an amazing basestealer, so I was trying to give him an opportunity to get on second base to get in scoring position,” Royster said.
“I got a fastball out over the plate, a pretty good pitch to hit, and I just tried to put a nice easy swing on it.”
Everett’s rally spoiled an impressive start by Tri-City’s Christian Friedrich. The left-hander, a first-round pick by the Colorado Rockies in this year’s draft, used a big-breaking curve and a sharp-breaking slider to strike out 10 in 52/3 innings, surrendering just one unearned run in the process.
Reyes and Robinson also homered for the Dust Devils (23-30), who were swept in the five-game series.
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