The Eugene Emeralds dropped game 2 against the Everett AquaSox by a final score of 12-6. The Ems now move to 52-52 on the season and 18-20 in the 2nd half.
The Everett AquaSox jumped out to a quick lead in the 1st inning. Harry Ford got the scoring started with a solo home run to left field for his 12th home run of the season. Gabriel Gonzalez followed it up with a solo home run of his own. Hogan Windish capped off the inning with a solo home run for the 3rd of the inning to give Everett the 3-0 lead. In the top of the 2nd the AquaSox added a pair of runs. Cole Young drove in the first run of the inning on a double to right field that scored Blake Rambusch on the play. Harry Ford then drove in Cole Young on a single to give Everett the 5-0 lead after the first two innings.
In the 5th inning the AquaSox added 4 more runs to extend their lead to 9. Mike Salvatore stepped into the box with the bases loaded. He proceeded to hit his 2nd triple of the season and all 3 base runners scored. Harry Ford followed it up by singling and scoring Cole Young for the 2nd time in the night. It was a tough first five innings for Eugene, but the bats were able to start chipping into the lead in the bottom of the 5th.
In the bottom of the 5th Grant McCray hit into a groundout and Zach Morgan was able to score for the first run of the ballgame. Carter Howell then followed it up by hitting into a groundout but this time around Ghordy Santos was able to touch home for the 2nd run of the game. In the top of the 6th the AquaSox added 3 more runs. Hogan Windish homered for the 2nd time in the game for his 14th of the season. Victor Labrada singled to right field and both James Parker and Mike Salvatore scored on the play to make the score 12-2 after 6 innings.
Eugene wouldn’t go down quietly however. In the bottom of the 7th inning Damon Dues doubled for his 9th double of the season and Ghordy Santos scored for the 2nd time in the night. In the 8th inning Luis Toribio doubled and scored Aeverson Arteaga for the Emeralds 4th run of the night. In the bottom of the 9th Eugene made things very interesting. With a pair of runners on and nobody out, Grant McCray hit into a groundout and Santos came home to score for the 3rd time. The next batter, Carter Howell, singled on a line drive over the shortstop’s head and Damon Dues scored for the Emeralds 6th and final run of the night.
It was a tough night for Eugene, as they dug themselves too big of a hole early in the ballgame. It was great however to see the offense start to produce late, and they’ll look to carry that over in tomorrow night’s ballgame.
Hayden Wynja got the start in tonight’s game. He left the game after 4.1 innings and got the loss on the night. Wynja had been fantastic in his previous outings with the Emeralds, so he’ll look to bounce back in a big way next time out on the bump. Brett Standlee pitched the final 3.1 innings and allowed just 1 hit and didn’t issue a single walk. He also struck out 1 batter and didn’t give up a run. It was a strong showing for Standlee in tonight’s game.
The Emeralds now will look to bounce back tomorrow night against Everett. The AquaSox now have a 4-game lead over the Emeralds for a playoff spot. While it is a lot of ground to make up, if Eugene can have a strong next four days, they can quickly make up ground in the standings. Nick Sinacola will be on the mound for the Emeralds in tomorrow’s ballgame. Sinacola has been fantastic in recent weeks, and he’ll be tasked with limiting the AquaSox’s offense who has been on fire to start the series. First pitch is set for 6:35 P.M
