Sloan wins battle, loses war in first home start

EVERETT — Ryan Sloan stepped off the mound to receive Josh Caron’s throw and quickly whipped back around to get back on the rubber. The Everett AquaSox pitcher wanted it to end, but only on his terms.

Sloan, the 19-year-old righty who made his first home start for Everett against the Spokane Indians on Saturday, was engaged in a war of attrition against Indians outfielder Max Belyeu. Trailing 1-0 with two outs in the top of the second inning, Sloan made Belyeu whiff on a 1-0 pitch before he fouled off three straight pitches. Sloan’s sixth pitch went high to even the count to 2-2 before Belyeu fouled off another pitch, and Sloan threw the next one low to make it a full count.

Belyeu, the Colorado Rockies’ seventh-ranked prospect, proceeded to foul off eight straight pitches. It felt like instant replay happening in real life. Fans from the crowd at Funko Field began pleading with Belyeu, begging him to swing and miss the next pitch. He wouldn’t relent.

But neither would Sloan.

“I was just at a point where I was like, ‘I’m gonna win this,’” Sloan said. “‘And that’s really the only option.’”

Sloan, who is the Mariners’ fifth-ranked prospect and slots in at No. 42 on MLB’s list, delivered the 17th pitch of the at-bat inside on Belyeu, who once again made contact. The ball floated into fair territory this time, right into the glove of AquaSox left fielder Carson Jones. Mercifully, the at-bat was over, as was the inning.

“The guy was just on it,” Sloan said of Belyeu. “Whatever I can do to kind of mess him up and mess up the timing, whatever. So I thought it was good. I hadn’t really had that in the past, so just being able to learn, and now I know how to combat that, which I think is a positive.

“I ended up winning the battle, so it was good.”

Sloan won the battle, but the Indians won the war. After mowing down the heart of the Spokane order in the third inning, Sloan allowed a couple of base hits in the fourth to set up outfielder Tevin Tucker with runners on the corners and two outs.

On a 1-1 count, Sloan left an inside pitch slightly closer to the middle than the edge of the zone, and Tucker crushed it deep to left field. The three-run shot gave the Indians a 4-0 lead, and it was on Sloan’s last pitch of the evening.

In 3.2 innings, Sloan allowed seven hits and four earned runs while striking out four Spokane batters. On 69 pitches, he threw 55 strikes (79.7 percent), nearly matching the strike percentage from his High-A debut against Hillsboro on Aug. 16 (80.8 percent). Even in the marathon at-bat against Belyeu, just five of the 17 pitches were outside the strike zone.

The overall result didn’t go Sloan’s way, but AquaSox pitching coach Matt Carasiti saw exactly what he wanted out of the young pitcher.

“You’re going to have games like that where you give up an unlucky homer at the end,” Carasiti said. “It kind of drags him out of the game just because of the pitch count, but stuff-wise, it was electric like always. And obviously, his biggest strength is just his ability to flood the zone with good stuff, so it was another great outing.”

Pedro Da Costa Lemos entered in relief to get the final out, and he pitched two perfect innings in the fifth and sixth to set up Jose Gerardo and Calvin Schapira, who both held Spokane hitless across the final three innings.

AquaSox infielders Charlie Pagliarini and Luis Suisbel hit back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the seventh to cut the score to 4-3, giving Everett some life.

“I honestly thought (Spokane starter Josh Grosz) was pretty tough. Nothing he threw went straight,” Pagliarini said. “I was down in the count early (0-1), and he kind of just hung one (right down the middle). I know he probably wasn’t too happy about it, but I was able to put a good enough swing to get it out of here, which was awesome.”

However, an eighth-inning rally fell short, and a clean ninth gave way to a 4-3 Indians win. After receiving a no-decision in his debut against Hillsboro, Sloan took the loss on Saturday. But he also took some key knowledge with him about how to handle those long at-bats like the one against Belyeu.

Carasiti said he talked to Sloan about playing around with the pitch clock and holding the ball longer to try and get Belyeu out of his rhythm. Eventually, it worked, and Carasiti was impressed not only by the quality of Sloan’s pitches, but also by his determination to get the out.

“He just didn’t give in. … When you get into an at bat like that at 17 pitches, it’s pretty unprecedented,” Carasiti said. “So you just got to be creative and try to find ways to get him out, and he did a good job.”

For Sloan, gaining that experience means more to him than the result at this stage in his career.

“That’s really all I’m trying to take away, is just learn from every outing,” Sloan said. “That’s probably one of the things I’ll take away, so that’s good.”