HILLSBORO – The Eugene Emeralds (32-17) kept it rolling on Wednesday afternoon behind two homers from Armani Smith and another well-rounded collective pitching performance to once again down the Hillsboro Hops (19-29), this time by a final of 6-3 at Ron Tonkin Field.
Wednesday’s afternoon matchup appeared to be a premier pitching duel on paper with fifth-ranked Arizona Diamondbacks prospect Blake Walston making his High-A debut for the Hops against fifth-ranked San Francisco Giants prospect Seth Corry for Eugene.
The first few frames started on a sour note for both pitchers, though – particularly Walston.
Eugene jumped out to an early lead in the game’s first frame thanks to a pair of back-to-back jacks, the first from Will Wilson on what was his team-leading tenth homer of the season while the second came from Armani Smith, his second homer since joining the Emeralds two weeks ago.
After Wilson and Smith belted back-to-back solo shots to left, Hillsboro responded in the bottom of the first when leadoff man Jorge Barrosa drew a walk, stole second, stole third, then advanced home on a throwing error by Ems catcher Richardo Genovés that trimmed Eugene’s early advantage back to one.
That’s the closest the game would be the rest of the way, though, as the Emeralds busted it open just one inning later, and it came via a two-out rally.
After a Tyler Fitzgerald groundout and a Franklin Labour strikeout started the top of the second, Brandon Martorano belted his fifth double of the season on a liner into the left field corner to get the rally going. Leadoff man Ismael Munguia followed with a sharp grounder to third that ricocheted off the glove of Hillsboro’s Tristin English and allowed Munguia to reach first while Martorano advanced to third. Will Wilson then stepped up for the second time of the day and promptly delivered for the second time of the day, singling to right field away from the shift and scoring Martorano to make it 3-1, Ems.
One pitch later, it was a four-run game. Armani Smith stepped up smoked the first pitch he saw from Walston, tattooing a three-run bomb to left field that made it 6-1 on what was his second homer in just two innings of play.
The Eugene offense was largely held at bay the rest of the way, but the six Emeralds runs on the board proved more than enough for starting pitcher Seth Corry and three pitchers out of the bullpen. Corry, who once again battled with control issues, still racked up six strikeouts while going 5.0 innings for just the second time this season.
Fellow southpaw Bryce Tucker pitched a quick sixth, right-hander Jasier Herrera worked a scoreless seventh and eighth innings, and John Russell finished it off in the ninth to cap a 6-3 win, Eugene’s fourth straight victory and their ninth consecutive win over the Hops.
The Eugene Emeralds and Hillsboro Hops face off again on Thursday at 7:05 p.m. in Hillsboro.
PEAK PERFORMERS:
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