The Emeralds dropped game 4 against the Hillsboro Hops by a final score of 8-2. The series is now tied up at 2 games apiece with 2 more games still to play. The Emeralds record sits at 43-45 on the season.The Hops jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning. After Eric Silva got the leadoff man Manuel Pena to roll over on a pitch, Josh Day crushed a ball over the wall for his first hit of the series and gave the Hops the 1-0 lead. Eric Silva rejoined the Emeralds and was announced as a starter just a couple of hours before game time. Silva pitched 4 innings and allowed 3 earned runs on 5 hits. Silva was able to tally 2 strikeouts and didn’t issue a walk which was a very positive sign for him. He’s just 20 years old and has all the talent in the world, and it’ll be a big boost for the Emeralds to get Silva back into the starting rotation moving forward.
In the third inning the Hops added two more runs. Juan Corniel led the inning off with a single and that flipped the lineup to the top. Manuel Pena connected with a baseball and sent it over the wall for his 3rd home run this season with Hillsboro. Christian Cerda recorded a 1-out single but Silva was able to battle on the bump and got Kristian Robinson to hit into a fielder’s choice before Brett Auerbach threw out Robinson who was trying to steal 2nd to end the inning.
In the 4th inning Eugene scored their lone pair of runs in the ballgame. Grant McCray started the inning off by hitting a ground-rule double out to right center field. Carter Howell followed it up with a 4 pitch walk to give Eugene a pair of baserunners to start the inning. That brought up Jared Dupere who hit a shot out to left field. Junior Franco charged the ball and pulled up short. The ball proceeded to take a weird bounce and bounced over the head of Franco. Dupere was able to hustle into 2nd for the double and both runs came home to score for Eugene. They had a couple of opportunities to push runs home, but the Hops pitching staff did a good job at limiting the damage.The 5th inning is where disaster started to strike for Eugene. Jesus Valdez led the inning off with a single and Juan Corniel was able to double right after him and scored Valdez on the play. The next batter, Manuel Pena, drew a walk to put a pair of runners on. Josh Day hit into a double-play and it looked like the Emeralds had a chance to escape the inning. Juan Corniel was then able to score on a wild pitch to make the game 5-2. Christian Cerda drew a walk and that brought up Kristian Robinson to the plate. He hit a 2-run home run out to right center field to give the Hops the 7-2 lead. The Hops would add one more insurance run in the 8th after Kevin Graham hit an RBI-Single that scored Cerda on the play.
Daniel Blair made his 2nd appearance of the season for Eugene out of the bullpen. After Eric Silva pitched the first four innings, Blair went the distance after him. He allowed 6 hits, 5 earned runs, 3 walks and he struck out 3 batters. Other than the 4-run 5th inning for Hillsboro, Blair did a good job at settling in and started to generate outs quickly. He was attacking the strike zone and had a solid final 3 innings of work.
The Ems will be back in action tomorrow as they’ll look to take the 3-2 series lead. The projected starter for tonight is Hayden Wynja, and it will be his first time facing the Hops. First pitch is set for 7:05 P.M.
