The scenario seemed similar for the Eugene Emeralds.
After holding a 4-2 lead over the Boise Hawks in the fifth inning, Eugene’s bullpen had some shaky moments. First, Emeralds reliever Greg Gonzalez gave up a solo home run to Hawks designated hitter Paul Hoilman lead off the sixth inning, narrowing the lead to one run. Then, with two outs in the seventh inning, Emeralds reliever Simon Berroa balked in the tying run from third base.
For a team whose bullpen had given up eight runs in three previous games, another implosion appeared imminent.
Instead, the Emeralds had an unexpected offensive explosion in the bottom of the inning with the help of bad Boise fundamentals. Eugene (3-1) poured on five runs on three hits, leading it to an eventual 9-4 win over Boise (1-3) at PK Park Monday night in Single-A Northwest League action.
After second baseman Cory Spangenberg led off the inning with a walk, first baseman Daniel Garce hit a tailor-made double-play ball to Hawks reliever Hector Mayora. But Spangenberg hustled into second and rushed shortstop Wes Darvill, whose throw to first base was off-line, allowing Garce to reach on a fielder’s choice. Emeralds left fielder Kyle Gaedele hit a single over Darvill’s head to put runners on first and second for catcher Matt Colantonio, who made his first start of the year.
Colantonio hit a towering fly ball to Hawks center fielder Pin-Chieh Chen, who lost the ball when it went higher than the stadium lighting, allowing it to fall in for a double, scoring Garce and Gaedele.
“I had a decent day at the plate and that turned it into a good day. It’s a lot better to be lucky,” Colantonio said. “I was just trying to put the ball hard in play, score the runner from second, and that happened to be a nice little play for us.”
For Colantonio, it was his second hit of the night and for the Emeralds, it was just the beginning of their offensive barrage at Mayora’s expense.
“It was a blast, you know,” Colantonio said. “We got a good game — a nice, tight game — but then we broke it open at the end, so it was nice.”
First-year Eugene manager Pat Murphy singled out Colantonio for his positive performance for the San Diego Padres’ minor-league affiliate.
“It’s basically his first start, and (he) did just a masterful job of calling pitches and a great job of blocking balls and threw a guy out and just had a great game,” Murphy said.
More Boise miscues piled up throughout the inning, as Emeralds designated hitter Mike Gallic was hit by a pitch before Clint Moore hit a ball that was booted by Hawks second baseman Brad Zapenas. Mayora threw a wild pitch past Boise catcher Yaniel Cabezas, allowing Colantonio to score and letting Gallic and Moore to move to scoring position before center fielder Donavan Tate capped his slump-busting 3-for-5 night with a two-run single to center field.
“It finally feels good to get a couple hits in, but we got out there and had a good win,” said Tate, who is currently on a rehab assignment from High-A Fort Wayne. “It was a big win for our team today.”
However, it was not that play for which Murphy praised Tate. Instead, Murphy lauded Tate for stealing second base in the fifth inning, taking the team out of a double-play scenario with one out in the inning.
“Everybody wants to get the big hit, but it’s the little things that go on that’s part of winning baseball that you do that leads to a big inning, and that was winning baseball right there,” Murphy said. “While he’s doing his rehab, he’s doing a lot of great things for us.”
In that at-bat, shortstop Jace Peterson hit a two-run single to open the scoring for the Emeralds, who were trailing 2-0 at the time. The Emeralds added two more runs on a two-out triple by right fielder Lee Orr that scored Peterson and Spangenberg.
The Emeralds were stymied by Hawks left-hander Willengton Cruz, who struck out seven batters in four innings with six swinging strikeouts. For the game, Eugene batters struck out 12 times against Boise’s pitching staff, which marks the second time in four games that more than 10 Emeralds struck out.
“The kid for the other team deserves a lot of credit,” Murphy said. “He’s tough to pick up, threw a good changeup, wasn’t afraid to throw it, kept us off-balance.”
Eugene starter Colin Rea struck out four Boise batters, but he gave up three extra-base hits and two runs in his four-inning stint. The Hawks did their damage in the third inning with a two-run double to right field by Zapenas with one out.
The Emeralds and Hawks end their five-game series 7 p.m. Tuesday night at PK Park. The Emeralds take to the road Wednesday for a three-game series against the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes before a three-game weekend series at the Everett Aqua Sox.