Bullpen can’t hold down early lead, Tri-City drops series opener
Despite claiming two separate middle-inning leads, the host Tri-City Dust Devils dropped Wednesday’s series opener to the Everett AquaSox 11-5 after the Frogs scored nine runs against the home bullpen.
It was the fourth loss in the past five games for the Dust Devils (14-13), who now trail the Northwest League North Division-leading Vancouver Canadians by two games. The middle game of the three-game set against Everett was Thursday night.
Brayan Hernandez did a large chunk of the damage for Everett (11-16), hitting a double and a triple while driving in three runs and scoring twice. The Seattle Mariners’ top pick in this year’s MLB Draft, Evan White, went 3-for-4 with a double, a run scored and an RBI. Michael Suarez (3-1) pitched in relief of starter Randy Bell and went five innings, allowing just one run on five hits and striking out eight to get the win.
The AquaSox struck first with two runs in the top of the third, but Tri-City answered with four in the bottom of the frame — Kelvin Melean, Justin Lopez and Tre Carter picked up RBI knocks, and Lopez scored when shortstop Chris Torres misplayed a grounder off the bat of Luis Asuncion. Everett tied it back up with two more runs, off reliever Chasen Ford (0-1), in the top of the fifth, but Tri-City claimed the lead again courtesy of a run-scoring single by Asuncion.
But the Tri-City bullpen imploded from there. Ford gave up three more runs without recording an out in the sixth before getting pulled in favor of Fred Schlichtholz. Everett plated four in the sixth, two in the seventh and one in the eighth to win going away.
AquaSox 11, Dust Devils 5
Everett | AB | R | H | BI | BB | SO | Avg |
C.Torres ss | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | .138 |
J.Rosa 2b | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .294 |
White 1b | 4 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .279 |
Helder lf | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | .311 |
Jo.Adams 3b | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .324 |
O.Pena dh | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .253 |
Banuelos c | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .214 |
B.Hernandez cf | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | .247 |
Stroosma rf | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | .167 |
Totals | 40 | 11 | 14 | 8 | 7 | 13 |
Dust Devils | AB | R | H | BI | BB | SO | Avg |
Melean 3b | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .260 |
Lopez 2b | 5 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .207 |
Almanzar ss | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | .253 |
Asuncion rf | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .292 |
Carter cf | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | .253 |
Anguizola dh | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .116 |
Aragon 1b | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .235 |
Seagle c | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .162 |
Burgos lf | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .228 |
Totals | 38 | 5 | 12 | 4 | 0 | 10 |
Everett | 002 | 024 | 210 | – | 11 | 14 | 2 |
Dust Devils | 004 | 010 | 000 | – | 5 | 12 | 3 |
E–C.Torres (5); Asuncion (1). LOB–Everett 9; Dust Devils 6. 2B–White (1). 3B–B.Hernandez (3). RBIs–White (12); Helder 2 (13); B.Hernandez 3 (12); Stroosma (2); C.Torres (1); Melean (6); Almanzar (8); Carter (14); Asuncion (12). SB–B.Hernandez (4) hB. RISP–Everett 5-for-16; Dust Devils 5-for-10. Runners left in scoring position–Helder 2; White; J.Rosa 2; Carter; Melean. GIDP–Jo.Adams. DP–Dust Devils 1.
Everett | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | ERA |
Bell | 3 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 9.00 |
M.Suarez W,3-1 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 5.40 |
Hammond | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8.71 |
Dust Devils | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | ERA |
Hernandez | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 5.84 |
Ford L,0-1 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 6.92 |
Schlichtholz | 1 1/3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1.42 |
E.Torres | 2/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4.91 |
Erb | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2.40 |
Miller | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1.98 |
Ford pitched to 3 batters in the 6th.
GS–Bell 34; Hernandez 55. Pitches-strikes–Bell 38-29; M.Suarez 81-57; Hammond 17-13; Hernandez 69-47; Ford 35-19; Schlichtholz 43-23; E.Torres 13-8; Erb 14-10; Miller 24-13. Inherited runners-scored–Schlichtholz 2-2; E.Torres 3-1.
T–3:14. A–1,812.
Dustin Brennan: 509-582-1413, @Tweet_By_Dustin
This story was originally published July 13, 2017 at 4:54 PM with the headline "Bullpen can’t hold down early lead, Tri-City drops series opener."