Following a five-game losing streak, the Eugene Emeralds beat the Tri-City Dust Devils  2-1 at PK Park Sunday for their third consecutive victory.
Dust Devil Kelvin Melean advanced to second on a wild pitch, and following a fielder’s choice that allowed him to reach third base, Melean made it home on yet another wild pitch by starting pitcher Jose Albertos to give Tri City the early 1-0 lead. Albertos responded with back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning.
That was all that Albertos would surrender to the Dust Devils, as they were held to just one hit in five innings of work. He walked one and struck out four.
The game was tied in the bottom of the fourth inning on a solo shot by Brandon Hughes that just squeezed inside the right field foul pole.
The Emeralds took the lead for good in the seventh inning, again due to a big play by Hughes. He crushed a sacrifice fly to center field, allowing Jared Young to score from third for what would be the winning run.
It was a rough start for the Emeralds defense early in the game.
The second inning was trouble for Jhonny Bethencourt who finished with three errors in the game. The lead runner reached first on a fielding error by Bethencourt. Later in the inning, his third error of the game allowed runners to occupy the corners with one out. Following a strikeout, Albertos threw his third wild pitch of the ball game, allowing Chandler Seagle to advance from first to second base. Albertos forced a groundout to end the inning, keeping the deficit at one run.
In the bottom of the second, Joe Martarano was thrown out at home. Hughes hit a single to right field and Martarano attempted to reach home from second base, but the throw was well ahead of him and he was thrown out at the plate.
The arm of the Dust Devil’s right fielder Luis Asuncion was again tested by aggressive Emeralds base running in the third inning. With two outs, Aramis Ademan hit a single to Asuncion. Sprinting for second, Ademan was easily thrown out to end the inning.
 
The final game of the five-game series between the Emeralds and the Dust Devils takes place at 7:05 pm, Monday night at PK Park.
Follow Zak Laster on Twitter: @zlast3445