PASCO – The Everett AquaSox got squeezed Thursday night.
The Tri-City Dust Devils executed a suicide squeeze play to push across the winning run in the bottom of the 11th inning, defeating the AquaSox 2-1 in Northwest League play.
Josh Banda’s one-out bunt scored pinch-runner Maruis Loupadiere from third base to end the game.
Johnny Bowden homered as Tri-City (3-7) won back-to-back games for the first time this season. Augustin Arias earned the win in relief. Gregory Halman homered for Everett (6-4). Nick Hill took the loss.
Everett starting pitcher Nolan Gallagher continued his scoreless start to the season. The right-hander tossed six shutout innings, giving up two hits and two walks while striking out two. He now has 10 scoreless innings to start his professional career.
Tri-City starter Bruce Billings, with the exception of one pitch, was just about perfect. In five innings he gave up just three hits and struck out six, but one of those hits was Halman’s homer.
Halman wasted little time giving the AquaSox the lead. The second batter of the game, Halman, blasted a shot over the wall in center field – a location rarely visited in mammoth Dust Devils Stadium – making it 1-0 with his second homer of the season. Halman’s homer also extended his hitting streak to 10 games.
Everett had a golden opportunity to pad its lead in the seventh, putting runners at second and third with nobody out. However, Tri-City reliever Cory Riordan worked out of the jam, leaving the score 1-0.
That proved costly as the Dust Devils tied it up in the bottom of the frame. With two out, Bowden laced a solo homer to left, his first of the season, as the score was knotted at 1-1.
The Sox continued to leave runners in scoring position, stranding a runner at second in the eighth, then stranding runners at third in both the ninth and 10th.
Then it was Tri-City’s turn to squander an opportunity. In the bottom of the 10th the Dust Devils loaded the bases with one out. However, Hill came on and got a pair of strikeouts to send the game to the 11th.
See the Scoreboard on page D6 for the box score.
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