After losing four games in a row to the Hillsboro Hops, the Everett AquaSox exacted a little revenge on Saturday by putting up 20 runs in a lopsided victory.
Everett scored multiple runs in eight of the nine innings, racked up 17 hits, drew 12 walks and forced the Hops to use nine pitchers in the 20-7 win as 2,123 watched at Ron Tonkin Field in Hillsboro.
Four different Everett players hit RBI doubles in the top of the sixth inning — with three of them coming consecutively — as the AquaSox extended their lead to 16-3 on the way to snapping the Hops’ six-game winning streak.
Jesus Valdez hit a solo homer and Shane Muntz finished with two hits and two RBIs for the Hops.
Yu-Min Lin got the start for the Hops in his High-A debut but pitched just 1 1/3 innings while giving up three runs with two walks. It became a parade to the mound after that, with none of the Hops’ nine pitchers lasting more than 1 2/3 innings.
Only in the seventh inning did Hillsboro (6-2) hold Everett (2-5) without a run. By the eighth inning, when Hillsboro brought in its eighth pitcher, the Hops had to turn to a position player, Ramses Malave. In the ninth, the Hops handed the ball to another position player, Channy Ortiz, and the third baseman got out of a bases-loaded jam with the final out of the frame.
Everett left-hander Jorge Benitez retired the side in the ninth to finish off the Hops.
Next up: The Hops and AquaSox close out their six-game series at 1:05 p.m. Sunday at Ron Tonkin Field (Rip City Radio KPOJ 620).
