EUGENE, Ore. — Eugene Emeralds pitcher Matt Jackson was perfect.
Fortunately for the Everett AquaSox, his successors weren’t.
Everett waited out Jackson and then struck against Eugene’s bullpen, winning 3-0 Thursday night in Northwest League play.
Jackson threw five perfect innings, but good damage control by Everett starter Luke Bennett over 5 2/3 no-hit innings kept the Sox even. Then Everett scored twice in the seventh and once in the eighth to take the lead for good.
Andrew Carraway and Daniel Cooper polished off the two-hit shutout for Everett. Carraway earned the win with 2 1/3 innings for his first victory as a professional, and Cooper picked up the save with a scoreless ninth, his second. The shutout was the Sox’s first of the season.
Anthony Phillips homered as the Sox improved to 7-6. Everett has a chance to split the six-game series with the Emeralds with a win in tonight’s series finale.
Eugene fell to 5-8.
The Sox never even had a sniff of a hit against Jackson. The right-hander, who hadn’t allowed a run in three relief appearances coming into what was his first start of the season, retired all 15 batters he faced, striking out six. Only two batters were able to get the ball out of the infield.
However, Jackson left with a no decision thanks to a high-wire act by Burnett. The big righty also kept the opposition hitless, but unlike Jackson he had plenty of runners on base, thanks to five walks and three hit batters. He left the bases loaded in the first inning and runners at second and third in both the second and sixth, but escaped without allowing any runs. He struck out seven.
After Jackson departed the Everett offense found life against Eugene reliever Miles Mikolas. Welington Dotel, the first batter to face Mikolas, led off the sixth with a single to break up the perfect game, though the Sox didn’t score in the inning.
Everett finally got on the board against Mikolas in the top of the seventh. Ryan Royster beat out a one-out infield single, took third on Gerardo Avila’s single, then scored on a wild pitch for the game’s first run. Juan Fuentes followed with an RBI double to right, giving Everett a 2-0 lead.
Phillips then padded the lead in the eighth, launching a solo shot to left-center off Jeff Ibarra, making it 3-0 with his first homer of the season.
Eugene didn’t get its first hit until the bottom of the seventh inning when Joey Railey lined a two-out, two-strike pitch to left.
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