“Working hard or hardly working?”
That’s what the Eugene Emeralds had to be asking themselves after holding the Spokane Indians to two hits on just 98 pitches (29 balls) Friday night in a 1-0 win at PK Park.
First-year Emeralds manager Pat Murphy took note of how quickly the game went by — the whole contest finished in a brisk 1:57.
“I think they had somewhere to go tonight,” Murphy said. “Friday night, I think there’s something going on in Eugene or something because an hour-fifty-something game is unusual.”
The Indians had only four baserunners and never advanced one past first base against the Emeralds pitching staff — starter Colin Rea and relievers Mark Pope, Daniel Cropper and Matt Stites.
The Emeralds scored the only run of the game in the bottom of the first inning. Left fielder Justin Miller reached base on a one-out walk and moved to third base on a single to right field by second baseman Casey McElroy. He then scored on a wild pitch from Indians starter Chris Hanna during the at-bat of Emeralds third baseman Duanel Jones.
Despite Miller scoring the lone run, his Northwest League-leading 18-game hitting streak was snapped, as he went 0 for 3.
“We luckily got a passed ball there, McElroy got me over to third, and took advantage of the passed ball, got a run in,” Miller said. “And the pitchers shut them down the rest of the way.”
Hanna’s performance was nearly as dominant as the Emeralds’ pitchers, as he went seven innings and struck out seven while only allowing five hits and hitting one batter.
“You’ve got to credit their pitching staff, too,” Murphy said. “Their kid did a nice job and he was effective early, and any time a guy can give you seven innings — he pitched that well and he was good.”
Rea and Pope both threw three innings with two strikeouts and a single allowed and both drew 5-4-3 double plays from Indians leadoff hitter Edwin Garcia to end their stints. The single against Rea came from Indians catcher Yefri Castillo in the second inning, and he also allowed a third-inning walk to Indians third baseman Drew Robinson.
“I just got comfortable on the mound and focused on getting ahead on the first pitch, especially attack with the fastball, too,” Rea said.
The single against Pope was an infield hit in the sixth inning by Indians left fielder Nickolaus Vickerson. Cropper surrendered a two-out walk to Indians first baseman Brett Nicholas in the seventh inning, and Stites pitched a perfect ninth inning to pick up his third save of the year. The Emeralds pitching staff combined to throw first-pitch strikes to 19 of the 29 batters they faced.
“They all did a nice job getting ahead, and when you get ahead in the count, it makes things a lot easier,” Rea said.
Though the Emeralds had six hits in the game, they were staggered with no more than one in any inning, and no batter getting more than one. The only runner to go beyond first base after the first inning was center fielder Alberth Martinez, who hit a leadoff double down the first-base line in the eighth inning, but was stranded when three consecutive Emeralds struck out against Indians reliever Matt West to end the inning.
Eugene and Spokane will play game four of their five-game series tomorrow night at 7 p.m. at PK Park.