EVERETT — Brett Lorin let out a laugh when asked the question.
“Not easy, no,” Lorin replied when presented with the idea of professional baseball being easy stuff. “I wouldn’t say it’s easy, no way.”
It may not be easy, but Lorin sure made it look that way Sunday night.
The Everett AquaSox pitcher turned in a masterful performance, striking out 13 in six innings to lead the Sox to a 2-1 victory over the Boise Hawks in their home opener at Everett Memorial Stadium.
Lorin and two relievers combined a three-hitter as Everett pulled its record back to .500 at 3-3.
And Lorin, making his first true professional start — he threw two innings at the start of Thursday’s game in Spokane in preparation for Sunday’s start — was at the forefront. The 6-foot-7 right-hander from Long Beach State, the Seattle Mariners’ fifth-round pick in this year’s entry draft, gave up just one run on three hits and walked nobody during his six innings. Even the run he surrendered forced the Hawks to work hard to earn it as Ryan Flaherty fouled off three two-strike pitches before hitting his solo home run.
“I was throwing strikes, I was keeping them off balance with my changeup later in the game, and everything felt good today,” a beaming Lorin said.
“I’m definitely happy,” added Lorin, who said he’d never had 13 strikeouts in a game in his life at any level. “We came off that first road trip 2-3. We wanted to win that series and it didn’t happen, so to get game one at home was big for us.”
The secret to Lorin’s success was location. Lorin lived on the outside corner, using his heavy low-90s fastball to get ahead in the count. Then he finished the batters off with his changeup.
“Today he was impressive,” Everett manager Jose Moreno said. “He got ahead in the count, he hit the corners, had real good command and location, his change was outstanding to keep the batters off balance. It was real good to see.
“When he threw his first bullpen when he first got here we knew he was going to be our power arm,” Moreno added. “We don’t have too many here, we have guys who threw around 86-89. He’s going to be one of those guys who’s going to give us a lot of positives.”
Matt Renfree relieved Lorin and threw two perfect innings, then Javier Martinez closed it out in the ninth for his second save.
The Sox needed every out they got as Boise’s pitchers were nearly a match. Jay Jackson, Marcus Hatley and Jake Muyco combined on a four-hitter, striking out 11. If not for a strikeout that turned into a baserunner, leading to Everett’s go-ahead run, the teams may still be throwing zeroes on the scoreboard this morning.
“The pitchers were outstanding tonight for both teams,” Boise manager Tom Beyers said.
“(Lorin) used his fastball outstanding,” Beyers added. “Just about every hitter was strike one, strike two. On our side we probably could have been more aggressive on our second and third at bats. But he was aggressive with his fastball and used that changeup when he had to.”
Everett may have had just for hits, but the Sox made the most of them. It began in the bottom of the second with Everett already trailing 1-0 thanks to Flaherty’s first professional dinger. With two out Travis Howell walked, then Brandon Fromm ripped a liner to dead center that banged off the top of the wall. Howell chugged around the bases and beat the relay throw home to tie it up at 1-1.
Then came the decisive run in the fifth. With one out Fromm struck out on a pitch in the dirt, but the ball got away from catcher Carlos Perez, allowing Fromm to take first on the wild pitch. Ben Billingsley followed with an opposite-field double down the left-field line, Fromm scoring from first standing up to give the Sox a 2-1 lead.
That proved more than enough for Lorin and company. Boise managed just one baserunner the rest of the way, and that baserunner didn’t make it past first base.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
