Sox Walk It Off In On Pink At The Park Night
Everett, WA: The Everett AquaSox won on a walk-off single from Axel Sanchez on Friday night, securing the win by a score of 8-7. It was a game that saw the Frogs come back despite being down 6-4 on their last strike in the ninth.
Everett, WA: The Everett AquaSox won on a walk-off single from Axel Sanchez on Friday night, securing the win by a score of 8-7. It was a game that saw the Frogs come back despite being down 6-4 on their last strike in the ninth.
Axel Sanchez is the hero! I repeat Axel Sanchez is the hero!!
— Everett AquaSox (@EverettAquaSox) July 22, 2023
EVE-8 TRI-7 FINAL/11#howboutthemfrogs pic.twitter.com/3wciyeSFJw
The game did not start ideally for AquaSox starter Brandon Schaeffer or his teammates. The Tri-City Dust Devils led off the game with four straight hits, scoring two runs on RBI singles from Matt Coutney and Arol Vera before a single out was recorded. A strikeout and a double play got Schaeffer out of the inning as he limited the damage and kept the score at 2-0.
The Dust Devils would score two more in the top of the second before the AquaSox would score their first in the bottom of the inning on a Gabriel Gonzalez bases-loaded walk. The larger storyline of the first two innings for Everett was the missed opportunities. They had runners at first and second with nobody out in both of the first two frames and could only muster one run. It was 4-1 after two.
Both teams exchanged solo home runs in the fourth, with Tri-City left fielder Casey Dana going deep in the top of the inning and Mariners #2 prospect Cole Young going yard in the bottom of the inning to make it 5-2 Dust Devils after four.
The Dust Devils would remove starter Cole Percival from the game in the fifth after 4.1 innings, where he gave up two runs on five hits and struck out seven. Emilker Guzman took over for Tri-City out of the bullpen and finished off a scoreless fifth.
On the Everett side, Brandon Schaeffer was removed from the game after five innings after giving up five runs on 10 hits and striking out four. The Frogs turned to Kelvin Nunez as the first man out of the pen, who escaped a bases-loaded, two-out jam to keep the game at 5-2.
The offense rewarded Nunez for his efforts, scoring two runs in the bottom of the sixth on a Gabriel Gonzalez two-RBI single for his second and third RBIs of the game. The hit made it 5-4, shifting the momentum to the Frogs’ dugout.
Once Everett got within one, they turned to their resident big leaguer for the week in Casey Sadler. The rehabbing Seattle Mariner right-hander pitched a scoreless seventh and kept the deficit at one.
The Frogs waited until the last minute but completed their comeback in the ninth. Ben Ramirez singled into right field with two outs and runners at second and third. It looked like the hit would surely score both the runner at third and the runner at second to tie the game. However, the back runner Blake Rambusch tripped not once but twice, coming around third, presumably dooming the comeback. The baseball gods smiled on the AquaSox though, as Tri-City right fielder Alexander Ramirez airmailed the throw home, allowing Rambusch to score and tie the game at 6 after all.
Blake Rambusch was the center of the action once again in the tenth. D’Shawn Knowles hit a fly ball to him in left field that looked like it was going to score the runner at third with one out, but Rambusch gunned him down to maintain the tie.
Unfortunately, the Frogs could not score in their half of the tenth, and Tri-City was able to put one on the board in the eleventh on an Arol Vera RBI single that made it 7-6.
But the Frogs refused to lose. After a hit batsman and a walk, Axel Sanchez came to the plate and hit a broken-bat single into left field, allowing Gabriel Gonzalez and Harry Ford to score and hand Everett the 8-7 win.
AquaSox walk it off in the 11th inning, 8-7, on Pink At The Park night.
— Everett AquaSox (@EverettAquaSox) July 22, 2023
🐸⚾️📸: @emorudphoto pic.twitter.com/QdOzjjNy9Z
PICTURED ABOVE: Axel Sanchez
PHOTO CREDIT: Evan Morud
LOOKING AHEAD: Only two more games left in the homestand. On Saturday, the first 1,000 fans will receive an AquaSox trading card set by Pizza Hut. Saturday will also be a night for Huskies to beware as it's Washington State Alumni Night at Funko Field. If all this isn’t enough, Saturday will also be a BECU Family Night and feature a post-game fireworks show presented by Kona Big Wave
ABOUT THE EVERETT AQUASOX: The Everett AquaSox are the High-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners. Everett is a member of the Northwest League and has been a Mariners affiliate since establishing the AquaSox moniker in 1995. For updates on the 2023 season, community initiatives and Webbly appearances follow the Frogs on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok or visit our website, AquaSox.com. Mini-plans, and group and picnic outings can be purchased by calling (425) 258-3673 or visiting the AquaSox Front Office at 3802 Broadway in Everett.