EUGENE — The Eugene Emeralds continued their title-defending season with walk-off victories over the Spokane Indians Wednesday and Thursday at PK Park. The wins put them ahead 3-0 in the series, extending their lead in the Northwest League.
Like last year, when the Emeralds won the High-A West in their first season as a San Francisco Giants affiliate, the team is full of top prospects. Despite some underperformances, the Emeralds have continued to succeed and develop their talent.
After the Emeralds beat Spokane 7-1 on Tuesday, the teams played two tight-knit affairs on Wednesday and Thursday. Eugene won both in walk-off fashion, the fifth and sixth such occasions this year. The team is in first place in the Northwest League by 3.5 games.
Marco Luciano, the Giants’ top prospect and the No. 3 prospect in all of MLB, hasn’t played since June 3 due to an unknown injury, but he remained with the team in the dugout. He struggled upon his initial callup to Eugene last year, but he’s hit for an .867 OPS this season.
The Emeralds still had some of the Giants’ top prospects in their lineup Wednesday. No. 8 Hunter Bishop hit second, No. 13 Casey Schmitt was in the three-hole, No. 6 Jairo Pomares batted cleanup, No. 7 Patrick Bailey hit fifth and No. 22 Luis Toribio batted seventh.
The offense did just enough to win Wednesday. Toribio hit a two-run homer after an error, and the Emeralds didn’t score again until Ghordy Santos’ walk-off sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth.
Catcher Bailey, now going by Pat instead of Patrick, has struggled in Eugene for the second consecutive year. He was able to collect two hits Wednesday though, blooping one in the sixth and smacking a ball with more authority in the eighth.
Bishop is another well-regarded prospect who’s struggled at the dish. He missed nearly all of 2021 due to injury and is hitting just .208 in his return. He drew a couple of walks on Wednesday but seemed to figure it out in the later innings of Thursday’s game, collecting three hits from the sixth inning on.
Schmitt, seemingly one of the few prospects besides Luciano hitting well, went 0-for-4 on Wednesday and started Thursday 0-for-3. He did however record two key hits on Thursday, similar to Bishop.
The usual third baseman played shortstop in Luciano’s absence. Schmitt has an unusually large frame for a shortstop, standing at 6-foot-2 and 215 pounds, but he’s found success with an .831 OPS this season. He’s built much more like a third baseman and will certainly stick there going forward, but he held his own up the middle.
Right-hander Wil Jensen gave up two runs in 6 1/3 innings on the mound Wednesday. The former undrafted free agent struck out eight through six innings, freezing batters with his low-90s fastball and topping out at 93 mph. He worked in a lot of breaking stuff in the mid-80s, proving that the Giants perhaps got more than they bargained for with his signing.
Jensen has a 10.6 K/9 and 3.03 ERA this year, while keeping his walk rate in the low 2s. He’s done nothing but impress as an underdog prospect.
The more highly touted Ryan Murphy took the mound Thursday. He came in with 27 strikeouts in 16 innings and added eight more to that total through five solid innings of work. He sat at 93 mph with his fastball while working in an 83-84 mph slider and an 87-89 mph changeup.
The only run he allowed came on a balk with the bases loaded in the fifth. He argued vehemently with the umpires, losing his cool but still managing to strike out the final two batters of the inning.
Meanwhile, the Emeralds’ offense was no-hit until the sixth inning. Santos broke it up with an infield single, and Bishop followed with another infield single.
Down 2-0, the Emeralds didn’t score until a three-run outburst in the bottom of the eighth. Simon Whiteman started the frame with a hit by pitch. Whiteman, who played for the Emeralds last year, was just sent down after struggling in Double-A Richmond.
Santos had the hit which brought in the first run, helped by an error from Rockies No. 1 prospect Zac Veen. Pomares — another prospect who’s underwhelmed at the plate — kept it alive with a hit, and Schmitt flipped the game around with a two-run double.
The Emeralds nearly won in regulation, but reliever Brett Standlee surrendered a game-tying double with two outs in the ninth. Each team scored in the 10th, with the rainy conditions leading to ugly defense from Spokane. Bishop almost scored the walk-off run in the 10th but made a baserunning blunder after the Indians committed two errors on the play.
Eugene’s Nick Avila gave up an unearned run in the 11th, but the Emeralds stormed back to score two in the bottom of the inning and win another thriller, 6-5. Catcher Rodolfo Bone had the game-winning, two-RBI hit.
The late innings of Thursday’s game were an encouraging sign for the prospects who haven’t had the years they’ve wanted at the plate. Outside of Luciano, there hasn’t been a ton of star power on this team like there was with last year’s squad.
Still, the team is in first place and currently riding a hot streak. They’ve been able to scratch out some gritty wins like they did in these two games, and there’s no question that the team has a ton of talent. Their No. 2 prospect, left-hander Kyle Harrison, was recently promoted to Double-A, but they still have a slew of prospects in their top 30 playing in Eugene. It’s only a matter of time before players like Pomares, Bishop and Bailey start coming around, and Thursday was a step in the right direction.
