By: Joe Krasnowski
EUGENE, OR – The whole first and second-inning sequence only took about 30 minutes. The ninth-inning too, took about 15 minutes.
But in a bit of brutal irony, that three-quarters of an hour was more than enough for the AquaSox to take an insurmountable lead over the Emeralds (55-66) in the 7-5 Eugene loss.
The Emeralds, however, made it close.
In another rebuke to the AquaSox early lead, the team mounted a comeback bid before falling just short. Bryce Eldridge’s ninth home run with the Emeralds was a long one, a 432-foot blast that almost cleared the batter’s eye in center — another positive showing from the 19-year-old who has done nothing but hit since his mid-July arrival.
Then, Sabin Ceballos smashed a long home run to left, welcoming the Eugene faithful with his first homerun back home at PK.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough, not on a night where Everett took a three-run lead in the ninth and didn’t look back despite the Ems late rally. Eugene was able to get the tying run to the plate before a game-ending double-play ended the game with Bryce Eldridge — who homered yet again — on deck.
It was encouraging for the Emeralds to mount another comeback attempt, with the team scoring six unanswered last night after being down by double-digits, then cutting the lead again today.
Dylan Carmouche has been solid for the Emeralds since his promotion nearly a month ago. Although he is yet to win a game over his five starts. He entered with a 4.82 earned-run average and 22 strikeouts. And, at a time the club has been without the semblance of a true ace with tons of other promotions, he had provided stability by working five innings and allowing four or fewer runs in every outing but one.
However, for the Emeralds to win Wednesday night and on his last outings of the year, they needed the offense and pitching staff to do more.
And once again the Emeralds pitching staff was unable to hold their opponent’s serve, with the club losing its ninth game in ten tries.
Entering Wednesday’s evening contest at PK Park the Emeralds’ pitching staff struggled in the month of August with a 4.84 ERA over 187 innings. A significant drop-off from the 3.86 ERA of June.
And, in the scorebook, Wednesday’s contest was another example of the Emeralds playing well, but their opponents beating them on the margins.
The most significant being a 30-minute stanza that spelled out another unfortunate night for the Emeralds.
The good news, however, is the Emeralds will now have two tries to break this streak, with a double-header taking place tomorrow.
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
