The Eugene Emeralds lost 7-1 to the Spokane Indians on Wednesday night at PK Park. Three errors and two other defensive miscues didn’t help their cause, nor did the offense being virtually nonexistent all night. The loss snaps a streak of four consecutive wins, with the six-game series tied at one apiece.
Aaron Phillips made his first start of the season for Eugene. The first batter against him hit a routine fly ball to left field that Jacob Gonzalez lost in the sun, allowing the runner to reach third. The next batter singled and the Indians took an early 1-0 lead.
In the bottom of the first, Will Wilson hit a sharp double after homering Tuesday night. But Logan Wyatt continued to struggle, striking out as the Emeralds couldn’t capitalize.
A walk, a single and a stolen base put two in scoring position for Spokane in the third. The next batter hit one in and out of the glove of Gonzalez, as his rough night in left field continued. Both baserunners came home and the Indians extended their lead to 3-0.
Robert Emery led off the bottom of the third with a double in his first at-bat of the season. He came home on an Ismael Munguia groundout to cut the deficit to 3-1.
The first two Indians reached against Phillips in the fourth. He induced a double play and was on the cusp of escaping the jam, but the first baseman Wyatt dropped what should have been a routine groundout to third, allowing another run to score. Phillips was pulled from the game, shaking his head as some tough-luck plays spoiled his first outing of the season.
Reliever Bryce Tucker made a throwing error in the fifth and gave up a tapper into right field that made it 5-1. Catcher Patrick Bailey caught two runners stealing to help avoid any further damage.
The Indians had a defensive miscue of their own as shortstop Eddy Diaz lost a pop-up that allowed Emery to record his second double in as many at-bats.
Spokane rallied for another run off Tucker in the sixth to make it 6-1. Solomon Bates replaced him and pitched two hitless innings in relief with four strikeouts and three walks.
John Timmins took the mound for Eugene with two outs in the eighth, pitching for the first time since 2018. He walked the first batter, but struck out the next to hold the deficit at five.
Timmins stayed in for the ninth, and once again walked the first batter. A double and a third Emerald error then loaded the bases. Timmins induced a double play, limiting the damage to one run.
The Eugene bats remained silent as the team lost 7-1. Emery was the only major offensive contributor, reaching base all three times while the rest of the team combined for two hits.
The Emeralds (13-7) fall to second place in the High-A West, a game behind the Everett AquaSox. They’ll play Game 3 of their series against the Indians on Thursday at 7:35 p.m.
