In a wild game that saw nearly as many errors as runs scored, the Eugene Emeralds defeated the Hillsboro Hops 6-4 at PK Park Monday night.
Both teams put a run on the board in an unusual way in the first inning. Two wild pitches by Eugene starting pitcher Oscar De La Cruz allowed Marcus Wilson to score from third for the first run of the game for Hillsboro. The Emeralds responded quickly with a leadoff double by Robert Garcia off Hops starter Anfernee Benitez in the bottom of the first. Garcia later scored from third on an error when the catcher attempted to throw out Chris Pieters stealing second.
Pieters again was involved in a scoring play in the third inning, hitting a ball to center fielder Anfernee Grier, who could not make the play. The fielding error allowed Connor Meyers to score from first base and gave the Emeralds a 2-1 lead.
“We put pressure on their defense and that’s why they made five errors,” Eugene manager Jesus Feliciano said.
De La Cruz finished a successful night after four innings of work, striking out seven and giving up two hits. In the bottom of the sixth inning the Emeralds offense came up big with back-to-back singles by Pieters and Galindo to start the inning. Both were able to score on a single by Kevonte Mitchell to make it 4-1. With no outs, the Hops called to the bullpen to try to stop the runs, but the offense was not done yet. After two quick outs, with Mitchell on third, a single by Trent Giambrone added another run. Giambrone then scored when Robert Garcia reached base on throwing error by second baseman Connor Owings to make it 6-1 Emeralds. On the same play, DJ Wilson tried to advance to third but was thrown out to end the inning.
“We were chasing early in the game,” Feliciano said. “We made an adjustment, put the ball in play and got key RBI’s.”
Benitez struck out nine in five innings of work but gave up four earned runs on six hits.
The Hops looked to rally in the eighth inning, loading the bases with no outs. Luke Lowery was hit by a pitch and Alexis Olmeda walked to put two runs on the board for the Hops. Mark Malave came in for Alex Santana and struck out Luis Silverio for the first out. Mark Karaviotis then hit into a potential double play but the throw to first was off the mark and the runner from third scored to make it a 6-4 game. Justin Chigbogu hit a deep shot in the top of the ninth that would have tied the game but it came up just short.
With the win, the Emeralds (22-9) are within one game of clinching the South Division first half title in Northwest League, and can do so Tuesday night at PK Park against the Hillsboro Hops at 7:05 pm.
Follow Zak Laster on Twitter @zlast3445