After the first three batters of Wednesday night’s game, it looked like the Eugene Emeralds could’ve been well on their way to another beatdown by the Everett AquaSox. Little did anyone at PK Park know that Everett would string together just three hits after that.
Thanks to a resilient effort from Conner Nurse and more dominance from the Eugene bullpen, the Emeralds took the game 6-3. Two long balls helped fuel the offense. But, unlike Tuesday night’s thrilling victory, pitching was the story on Wednesday.
Just like they’ve been doing all year, the Everett offense put the pressure on the Emeralds early. With no outs, a walk and a pair of singles immediately put the AquaSox in the driver’s seat and on the board. They would fail to tack on any more runs in the inning, however, after Ricardo Genovés bailed out the Emeralds by throwing out two baserunners.
Eugene’s offense got that run back and a couple more in the second. Jairo Pomares led off the inning with a single to right — his fourth hit in just his fifth Emerald at-bat. Marco Luciano followed it up with an infield single of his own to set up first and second for Genovés, who sent a moonshot over the left field fence. With that bomb, the Emeralds snagged a 3-1 lead.
After a somewhat difficult first inning, Eugene starter Nurse began to find his groove in the third. He enticed a pair of groundouts and a strikeout in just nine pitches.
In the meantime, the Emerald offense padded on another run off a Brett Auerbach solo blast that hooked just high enough over the left field corner to give the Emeralds a three-run lead.
Nurse’s accuracy began to deteriorate in the fifth. He walked the bases loaded with two outs, but he was able to strike out Cade Marlowe to end the threat. After the first, Nurse went for four crisp no-hit innings in an impressive turn-around effort.
Unfortunately for Nurse, a high pitch count would end his night after that. Despite neutralizing the pesky AquaSox for most of the night, Nurse went just five innings.
The Emeralds have only gotten six innings out of their starters seven times all year. Considering Wednesday was the 92nd game of the year, this number is extremely low.
The removal of Nurse gave way for the Eugene bullpen, which is one of the minor leagues’ finest.
Tyler Schimpf got the first call in relief and completely fooled the Everett batters with five strikeouts in two innings of work.
As if the bullpen even needed it, Eugene added some insurance in the seventh. A bloop and two walks loaded the bases and caused a pitching change. The new AquaSox pitcher, Fred Villareal, didn’t have much more luck finding the zone. He walked Tyler Fitzgerald and later threw a wild pitch, allowing two more Emerald runs to scamper home to grow the lead to 6-1.
Ryan Walker got the rock in the eighth and surrendered a triple to the first batter he faced. The hit marked the AquaSox’ first since the opening frame. The run would later score on a Fitzgerald throwing error to cut the deficit down to 6-2.
Walker got the call again in the ninth and looked much more dialed in at first. He struck out the first two batters he faced but surrendered a home run to left. With two outs, this cut the lead down to 6-3. Walker made things more interesting when he let the tying run up to the plate, but he induced a pop-up to the Everett three-hitter to ice the game.
With the win, the Emeralds are now within breathing distance of first in the High-A West — as they sit just a game back. They will have a chance to make it three in a row and possibly tie for the division lead Thursday night against the AquaSox at 7:05 p.m.
