KLAMATH FALLS — Lawrence Chew threw six innings of four-hit ball in an emergency start, and the Wenatchee AppleSox piled up timely hits on their way to their seventh straight victory, a 10-2 thrashing of the Klamath Falls Gems on Thursday night at Kiger Stadium.

Jake Fife was scheduled to start for the Sox on Thursday night, but a recurring back injury forced him to the bench.

Chew, who was scheduled to pitch in relief anyway, found out 40 minutes before game time that he was going to start, and made quick work of the Gems.

“He just set the tone for the entire game,” Wenatchee manager Ed Knaggs told KPQ-AM after the game. “He worked fast and just filled the strike zone. Your defense is going to play well when a guy does that, and he made it a pretty easy game for us.”

Chew, who was named the Co-Player of the Week in the West Coast League this week for his work in a pair of relief stints, threw first-pitch strikes to 13 of the 22 Klamath Falls hitters he faced.

Chew’s only misstep was an RBI infield single he allowed the second inning after a single, a balk and a passed ball.

Offensively, Wenatchee was opportunistic against the Gems, as four of its first five runs came with two outs.

They got a quick one in the first inning on an RBI groundout by Josh Rapacz, and then retook the lead in the third on a sacrifice fly by Rapacz and a single from Mitchell Gunsolus.

Gunsolus continued his torrid start to the summer, going 3-for-5 with two runs scored on Thursday to raise his batting average to .472 through 10 games.

The Sox plated additional two-out runs in the fifth and sixth innings before blowing the game wide open with five runs in the seventh.

Gunsolus started the rally with a single off Gems pitcher Riley Barr, the third pitcher of the night for Klamath Falls.

After Jordan Osborn was hit by a pitch, Ty Moore beat out a sacrifice bunt to load the bases.

First-year manager Josh Hogan gathered his infield to talk about how to approach the situation, and odds are a bases-loaded walk was not part of the discussion.

Nonetheless, Ryan Drobny pushed home another a run after the free pass, and Klamath Falls still hadn’t recorded an out.

Ninth-place hitter Connor Huesers lined a rocket off Barr’s ankle which he promptly threw away, allowing two more runners to cross the plate.

Steve Ventimilia’s single and pinch-hitter Zack Abbruzza’s run-scoring groundout completed the scoring for the Sox.

“It’s those big innings that kill, and we had some help and some luck,” Knaggs said. “I liked that we got all those two-out base hits.”

A pair of AppleSox pitchers made their debuts in relief on Thursday, as Taylor Jones and Drew Jacobs worked the final three frames.

The Gems pushed across a run off Jones in the seventh, but the recent Kentwood High graduate recovered to fan three of the last five hitters he faced.