Following Oregon’s 6-4 home loss to Portland on Tuesday night, head coach George Horton welcomed suggestions from the media on how to end his team’s rough skid.
“Do I have to talk to you guys, really? You got any ideas?”
Horton proceeded to grab one journalist’s videocamera and flip it around on him.
“What the hell’s going on, Coach?” Horton asked the journalist through the camera lens. “Why can’t you guys win?”
The ailing Oregon baseball team lost its fourth straight game tonight to a team that has dropped five straight and 13 of its last 14.
Portland scattered six hits, walked once and forced a fielding error to combine for six runs — three earned — off starting pitcher Trent Paddon. Paddon lasted four innings and struck out four of the 20 batters he faced in his fifth start of the year.
The upset loss could not have come at a worse time for Oregon. They’ve started Pac-12 play with a 2-7 record and just been swept by Arizona.
“Every time we hit a guy or walk a guy or extend an inning with an out or don’t get a ball in from right field to our cut off guy efficiently, they score a run,” Horton said. “What we’re doing is turning zeroes into ones and ones into crooked numbers.”
Down by three runs in the fourth inning, second baseman Mitchell Tolman beat out a textbook drag bunt to start mounting the comeback. Shaun Chase, who returned to the clean-up position tonight, came up next and clouted his fifth home run over the fence in left to cut the deficit to 3-2.
Cooper Stiles relieved Paddon to start the fifth, which would eventually become Oregon’s fateful inning. Following back-to-back singles to start the inning, Portland’s Cody Lenahan laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners and Chase threw the ball to second to keep the double play a possibility. The throw, however, sailed into center field and Turner Gill scored from second.
Brady Kerr hit next and sprayed a grounder into the hole between shortstop and third. Patzlaff extended his glove to backhand the ball but booted it further into left field — his second error of the game — allowing two more Pilots to cross home. Stiles lasted three innings, struck out three and allowed three unearned runs.
Outfielder Scott Heineman kept the Ducks competitive with a solo shot in the bottom of the fifth, his first home run since blasting a three-run bomb in the ninth against Portland in April 2013. Mark Karaviotis stole third on a Matt Eureste strikeout in the seventh, and scored Oregon’s fourth run on catcher Brady Kerr’s overthrow. The runs, though, would not make difference as Portland effectively silenced the Oregon offense aside from two swings of the bat.
The Ducks (17-12) fall to 1-1 against Portland (6-24) this season, their 8-2 home win dating back to Feb. 24. They’ll travel to Portland for two more regular season contests on April 7 and April 15.
Oregon will make the short trip to Hillsboro for a neutral-site game versus Seattle at 6 p.m. tomorrow night.
Follow Kenny Jacoby on Twitter @kennyjacoby