Bears roll on

YAKIMA -- It's a modest achievement, one which many professional baseball teams have accomplished this summer several times over.

It becomes a big deal, however, if it's your first.

And for the Bears, who have absorbed so many more lumps than they've administered, their first three-game winning streak was something to savor Friday night, even if it didn't come until the season was more than three-quarters gone.

"We don't want to be embarrassed," said Anthony Smith, whose two-run homer helped Yakima beat Everett 4-3. "Even if we're not in any sort of playoff position, the most important thing is to play hard, improve and finish as strong as we can."

An announced crowd of 2,050 at Yakima County Stadium saw the Bears (21-37) win their fourth game in five matchups with the AquaSox (25-33) and claim their fourth series win with something of an exclamation point.

It was as close to a sweep as they've had, and it came immediately after Yakima had come up empty in five tries at Eugene.

Starter Ian Harrington pitched six strong innings, scattering seven hits and allowing one run, Jhoan Pimentel had a two-out, run-scoring single among his two hits and David Cooper provided a textbook example of a safety squeeze bunt.

Plus, manager Bob Didier won an argument, the result of which ended with the ejection of Everett skipper Jose Moreno.

"I wish we were doing this about four weeks ago," said Didier. "It all starts with pitching, and I know that's been said a number of times before. But your starting pitching sets the tone, and then we got some clutch hits and played well defensively."

The longest of the key blows was Smith's, a two-run shot in the third inning that cleared the 375-foot sign in right to put Yakima permanently ahead. It also swelled his team-leading RBI total to 25 and gave him eight over the past three nights.

Pimentel's base hit had squared the score at 1-1 in the second, after Everett had gotten its lone run off Harrington in the first via a one-out triple and following groundout.

"It's my job as the four hitter to drive guys in when they get on base," said Smith, who also leads the Bears in homers with five. "The first at bat he (Sox starter Walter Suriel) started me with a fastball, then threw me a fastball up that I missed. The next at bat was the exact same sequence, but this time when he threw me the fastball up, I got all of it."

Yakima made it 4-1 in the fifth when Andrew Fie drew a leadoff walk and was sacrifice-bunted to second by Pimentel. Greg Bordes then punched a single to right on which Fie held at third.

Next up was Cooper, who had doubled in the first. This time he pulled a perfect bunt to the right side, forcing pitcher Marquis Pettis to field it between the mound and first.

Not only did it allow Fie to score, Pettis had no play on the speedy Cooper.

Everett made things tense in the ninth off Jordan Meaker, who'd retired all six hitters after relieving Harrington in the seventh.

A leadoff walk to Welington Dotel was quickly followed by Ben Billingsley's homer to right, and Meaker followed the two-run blast with another walk to put the tying run on base.

After a sacrifice bunt, Ryan Royster was inserted as a pinch-runner while Daniel Vasquez was summoned to face fleet-footed Tyson Gillies.

Roberto Rodriguez was sent to the warning track in center to haul in Gillies' drive, after which Royster tagged and took third.

Vasquez, however, struck out pinch-hitter Nate Tenbrink to end it.

"It comes down to a team win," said Harrington, who improved to 4-5 while reducing his ERA to 3.70. "The guys played great defense, Smitty had a huge hit and David's bunt could not possibly have been better."

Didier, meanwhile, scored a rare umpire debate triumph in the seventh. He argued that Rodriguez's jersey had been nicked by a pitch, a claim plate ump Adam Schwarz initially denied. But after Schwarz consulted with partner Tom Woodring, the ruling was reversed to the vehement objection of Moreno, who was then tossed by Schwarz.

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