Two defensive plays in the fifth inning defined the Eugene Emeralds’ game against the Tri-City Dust Devils Wednesday night.
With two runners on and no outs, Emeralds starting pitcher John Barbato fielded a tapper to the mound, turned and threw to shortstop Jace Peterson, who was covering second base and set to start a sure double play. Instead, Barbato’s throw went just wide of the bag, allowing all the runners to be safe.
“If you turn the easy double play, you’ll probably be in business,” first-year Emeralds manager Pat Murphy said. “If you don’t turn the double play, it’s a whole ‘nother inning.”
The next batter, Dust Devils third baseman Matt Argyropoulos, hit a ball to Emeralds second baseman Justin Miller, who turned to attempt another double play and threw to Peterson at second base. After the shortstop caught the ball, he threw it over third baseman Travis Whitmore and into the Tri-City dugout. Two runs scored on the play, and they were all the Dust Devils needed to seal a 2-0 victory over the Emeralds at PK Park.
“You throw another error on top of it, both runs are on throwing errors,” Murphy said. “It’s a part of the game at this level. It’s unfortunate and we just didn’t get anything going offensively.”
Both teams had anemic offensive performances against the other’s dazzling starting pitching. The Dust Devils only got three hits in the entire game and only one off Barbato in 5 2/3 innings of work, while the Emeralds only got four hits in the game, all off Tri-City starter Christian Bergman. The Emeralds never sent more than four batters to the plate in any inning.
The closest either team came to scoring in another inning was when Peterson led off the first inning for the Emeralds with a hit down the third-base line and eventually reached third base with two outs. However, first baseman Zach Kometani grounded out to shortstop to end the threat.
The Dust Devils had a runner reach third base in the second inning when, after reaching on an error from Miller, designated hitter Justin Simon was stranded after Juan Crousset flew out to left field with two outs.
Miller was the only Emeralds player to reach base more than once, getting singles in the fourth and sixth innings.
The Emeralds and Dust Devils meet for game three of their five-game set Thursday at 7 p.m. at PK Park. The two teams are currently tied for the best record in the Northwest League.