The Eugene Emeralds lost 4-2 to the Spokane Indians at PK Park on Saturday. The Indians countered their aggressiveness on Friday with a more passive approach that led to an early lead they never looked back from. Kai-Wei Teng was ejected after two innings for using a foreign substance, so the Emeralds went with an unexpected bullpen game. Both Emeralds runs came on solo home runs.
Teng, the Giants’ No. 18 prospect, started on the mound for Eugene. He’s been solid this year, but walks have been his downfall.
Control continued to be an issue for Teng, as just 18 of his first 41 pitches were thrown for strikes. He struck out two in a hitless first, and struck out the first two in the second as well. But the lack of control caught up to him, as a walk, a hit by pitch and another walk loaded the bases.
With two outs, he gave up a two-run bloop single before bouncing back to strike out his fifth batter in the first two innings.
Teng came out to the mound for the third inning, but after the umpire inspected his glove, he was ejected from the game for doctoring his mitt with a foreign substance. Reliever Ryan Walker made an emergency appearance and got all the time he needed to warm up.
Walker gave up a home run in the fourth that extended the Emeralds’ deficit to 3-0. He struck out three in three solid innings in relief.
Will Wilson collected the Emeralds’ first hit of the night in the bottom of the fourth, a solo homer tucked to the right of the left field foul pole that cut the deficit to 3-1.
Tyler Schimpf came in for the sixth and allowed another homer that put the Indians up 4-1. The Emeralds responded in the bottom of the frame with a home run of their own from Javeyan Williams, who hit it on top of the shed in right field. The homer was the first of William’s professional career.
Logan Wyatt, who had fallen into a 5-for-54 slump, scratched out an infield single to lead off the bottom of the seventh. A hit batter put the tying runs on base, but Simon Whiteman struck out to end the inning.
R.J. Dabovich struck out the side in order in the ninth for Eugene. He now has 19 strikeouts in eight innings pitched this year. The Emeralds struck out 14 batters on the night, continuing their early season strikeout barrage.
Eugene batters went down quietly in the ninth as they fell, 4-2.
The loss is the second straight for the Emeralds as they fall behind 3-2 in the series. They also fall a game back of the Everett AquaSox for first place in the High-A West.
The Emeralds (14-9) will look to even the six-game series on Sunday at 7:05 p.m.
