By: Jacob Archer
PASCO, WA — The Emeralds dropped the 4th game of a 6 game series to the Tri City Dust Devils by a final score of 5-2. The Ems had opportunities all night long but ended up stranding 14 runners on base and went 1-12 with runners in scoring position. The series is now tied up at 2 games each and Eugene will look to sweep the weekend games to secure a series victory over Tri-City.
The Ems were able to strike first tonight in the top of the 1st inning. Turner Hill drew a leadoff walk and Diego Velasquez followed it up with a single. After a quick popout, Matt Higgins drove Hill home on a single to the outfield. Higgins now has tallied 6 RBI’s through the first 4 games of the series.
It was a scoreless 2nd frame for both teams before the Dust Devils responded back with a 3-run bottom of the 3rd inning. Matt Coutney started off the scoring with an RBI-Single that scored Caleb Ketchup on the play. Chad Stevens followed it up by ripping a double to the outfield to score Jadiel Sanchez and Coutney on the play. One of the runs was unearned for the Ems starter Manuel Mercedes as the inning started off with an error. In the bottom of the 4th Tri-City pushed home one more run. Cam Williams started off the inning with a double and was able to advance into 3rd on a wild pitch. Werner Blakely hit a sacrifice fly RBI to score Williams on the play and it gave them the 4-1 lead through 4 innings.
In the bottom of the 6th Tri-City was able to add onto their lead. With 2-outs Cam Williams hit a solo home run to extend the lead to 4. It was the first home run of the week for Tri-City and just the 2nd home run of the series for both teams. Eugene was able to make things interesting in the top of the 7th inning. Hill led off the inning with a double and advanced into 3rd on a groundout from Velasquez. Hill scored on the play to cut the deficit to 2 runs. Hill was the lone Emerald tonight to tally a run.
Eugene never goes down easy and they made things close in the top of the 9th. Onil Perez drew a 1-out walk to get a baserunner on for the Ems. Justin Wishkoski ripped a 2-out single to bring the game tying run up to the plate in Rodolfo Nolasco. He was able to work a quick walk to load up the bases and bring the go-ahead run up in Quinn McDaniel. McDaniel swung at the first pitch and grounded out to the shortstop Chad Stevens to end the game.
Mercedes was the starter tonight for the Ems and gave up 4 hits and 4 runs. Just 3 of those were earned and he struck out 3. Seth Corry pitched the 6th and the 7th inning and the lone hit he gave up was the Williams home run. Corry also walked a batter and struck out a batter. Julio Rodriguez was a bright spot in tonight’s game as he did give up a hit but struck out 3 batters in the 8th inning.
With Spokane winning their game tonight over Hillsboro the Ems now sit 2 games out of first place in the Northwest League. The pressure is on to close out the series on a high note before heading home for a 6-game series against Everett.
Will Bednar is on the bump for the Emeralds with first pitch set for 6:30 P.M.
The Eugene Emeralds are the High-A affiliate of Major League Baseball’s San Francisco Giants. The Eugene Emeralds are dedicated to providing the best in family entertainment and creating a fun, safe environment for everyone to enjoy watching a baseball game. For more information, please visit our website at www.EmeraldsBaseball.com or call the Emeralds front office at 541-342-5367. • Emeraldsbaseball.com • Facebook.com/EugeneEmeraldsfanpage • Twitter.com/EugeneEmeralds#RootedHere
