The Eugene Emeralds scored four runs in the bottom of the first and never looked looked back on Tuesday night at PK Park, beating the visiting Vancouver Canadians by a final score of 6-4 for their third-straight win.
“That was the difference in the game,” Eugene Emeralds manager Gary Van Tol said. “When you get down two right away, of course you know there’s a lot of game left and a lot of time to comeback, but to do it right away and put up a four spot – that’s a pretty good tradeoff.”
With the win, the Emeralds (12-8) move into sole possession of first place in the South Division of the Northwest League.
Vancouver got on the scoreboard in the top of the first after right fielder Sean Hurley tripled into the right field corner against Eugene starter Justin Steele, scoring shortstop Gunnar Heidt for the game’s first run. Hurley scored two pitches later on a passed ball to give the Canadians an early 2-0 lead.
The Emeralds then responded with their biggest inning of the night. With runners on first and second and one out, first baseman Matt Rose hit a booming fly ball that hit off the top of the International Fitness sign in right centerfield, clearing the bases and tying the game at two.
Rose thought the ball was gone, as he jogged towards first base and watched it sail into the Eugene sunset.
“I’m kind of disappointed it didn’t because I’ve never hit an opposite field home run,” Rose said. “That’s something I have to work on.”
Two batters later, designated hitter Ian Rice hit a nearly identical fly ball to right centerfield that bounced off the top of the fence for a double, scoring Rose and advancing Tyler Alamo to third. Eugene’s Ho-young Son hit a sacrifice, scoring Alamo and capping the Emeralds’ scoring in the inning.
“We just found barrels and good things happen when you find barrels,” Rose said. “[Centerfielder Earl Burl III] was playing shallow so we burned him a little bit. It worked out for us.”
Steele, who gave up one earned-run in his start, left in a 5-4 game after throwing five innings for the Emeralds.
Van Tol gave the ball to Venezuelan reliever Greyfer Eregua, who entered the game with a 3.38 ERA in 10 innings pitched on the season.
Eregua didn’t give up a hit in three innings of work, striking out seven Vancouver batters and allowing one lone runner to reach base. Van Tol said that Eregua’s ability to get ahead in the count with his changeup was key against an aggressive Canadians’ lineup.
“[Eregua] just kept them off balance and he did a heck of a job,” Van Tol said.
The Emeralds tacked on a run in the bottom of the eighth when Frandy De La Rosa hit a sacrifice line drive to center that scored Kevonte Mitchell, who tripled to lead off the inning.
“It was huge,” Van Tol said of the insurance run. “Being up two runs compared to one – you’ll take that any time.”
Van Tol said that Eregua could’ve returned to the mound for the ninth, but Van Tol instead elected to give the ball to reliever Jared Cheek, who hadn’t thrown in four days.
Cheek allowed one runner to reach base before closing out the game and giving the Emeralds their third-straight win.
Eugene will face-off against Vancouver in the final game of the series Wednesday before traveling to Tri-City for a five game road trip. With the series victory already in the bag, Van Tol is approaching tomorrow’s game with a greedy mindset.
“Now we have a chance to really do some damage and this is where you have to get a little greedy, I guess,” he said. “We’ll make sure that just because we won the series that we don’t tale a step backward and stay hungry and keep that mojo going.”
Follow Joseph Hoyt on Twitter @JoeJHoyt