Coming into the Emeralds game against the Hillsboro Hops, designated hitter Michael Cruz was on a hot streak. In the last five games, Cruz has put three home runs on the board and is hitting .316 through the stretch. He added another home run to his total on Friday, but it wasn’t nearly enough as the Emeralds fell to the Hops 9-4 at PK Park.
With the loss the Emeralds second-half record fell to 2-2, putting them two games behind the league leading Hops to start the second half of the season.
The game started strong for Eugene Emeralds starter Jose Albertos. He struck out the first two batters faced. Then things began to unravel.
Eudy Ramos hit a difficult grounder to third baseman Jhonny Bethencourt, who was unable to make the play on the infield single. Following that play, Albertos had a hard time finding the strike zone. He walked the next two batters to load the bases. After a visit from his coach to calm him, Albertos struck out Daulton Varsho to end the inning, but his struggles were far from over.
The Emeralds offensive output was early in this game. Back-to-back singles by Bethencourt and Jared Young led off the bottom of the first inning. Later, first baseman Gustavo Polanco hit a two out RBI single to give the Ems the lead. Then Cruz hit a well-placed shot to right-center field that center fielder Zach Davis dove for but came up empty. It allowed two runs to come across on a triple. The first inning ended with the Emeralds holding a three-run advantage.
Albertos second inning was his last for the night, as the Hops responded in a big way by putting six runs on the scoreboard. Bryan Araiza hit a popup to third base. Neither Ems player covering the play called for the ball and it dropped safely to the ground, allowing Ryan Grotjohn to score. Ramos followed with a deep shot that flew over the center fielder’s head for a two-run double. In the next at-bat, a passed ball allowed Ramos to reach third. A walk put runners on the corners with two outs.
That ended the night for Albertos, who gave up three earned runs on four hits in 1.2 innings. He struck out four in the loss.
With Jesus Carmago in for relief, Bethencourt committed an error at third to give the Hops a one-run lead, putting runners on first and second. Varsho followed with a two-run double, pushing the score to 6-3 after an inning and a half.
The hits kept coming in the fourth for the Hops when Ramos hit his second double of the night to add another run. Later in the inning, a sacrifice fly by Camden Duzenack made it 8-3 Hops.
Ramos finished the game 4-for-5 with three RBIs.
The Hops added a run on a single by Grotjohn to push the lead to six, essentially putting the game out of reach.
The Emeralds, who were held scoreless for four straight innings, took a run back in the sixth when Cruz crushed the home run. He finished the game 2-for-3 with a home run and three RBIs.
Former Oregon Ducks baseball player Tim Susnara made his second trip to Eugene as a professional since being drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the eighth round of the 2017 MLB Draft. On his previous trip to PK Park, Susnara went 1-for-7 in two games for the Hops. Friday didn’t go much better as he finished an 0-for-4 night with two strikeouts and a walk.
Susnara’s batting average dropped 11 points to .161 overall this season following Friday’s game.
Javier Assad (1-4) will take the mound Saturday for the Emeralds in game two of the three-game series against Tyler Keele (3-3) and the Hops at PK Park. First pitch is at 7:05 p.m.
Follow Zak Laster on Twitter: @zlast3445