The Eugene Emeralds broke out offensively and swept the Boise Hawks on the road in three games, ending Tuesday. They looked to carry that momentum into the first match-up of their five-game home stand with the Everett AquaSox.
“You get 22 hits and 15 runs the night before and you do everything you can to keep that mojo,” Emeralds manager Gary Van Tol said.
That wasn’t the case.
The Emeralds allowed five runs in the game’s final third and fell 6-1 to Everett at PK Park on Wednesday.
“We’ve got to play better,” Emeralds manager Gary Van Tol said. “We didn’t play clean enough. The three errors we made definitely cost us.”
Shortstop Andrew Ely charged and whiffed on a soft ground ball in the fourth inning, allowing Everett’s Logan Taylor to score the game’s first run from third base.
The Emeralds answered back in the bottom of the fourth when designated hitter Ian Rice drove in Frandy De La Rosa with a base hit up the middle. De La Rosa accounted for two of Eugene’s five hits, a pair of doubles.
Everett took back the lead on Drew Jackson’s two-out triple in the seventh, but this time the Emeralds couldn’t respond. Emeralds first baseman Blake Headley grounded into a 4-6-3 double play with runners on first and third to end the inning.
A defensive lapse cost Eugene two unearned runs in the eighth inning. With runners on first and second, relief pitcher Greyfer Eregua fielded Arturo Nieto’s bunt and threw wide to first base. The ball caromed off Nieto and sailed into right field, allowing both runners to score. Nieto later came home on Connor Hale’s productive ground out.
Everett tacked on another unearned run on a wild pitch after De La Rosa let a double play ball sneak through his legs and into right-center field.
“The bottom line is we’re going to have to step up and play better,” Van Tol said.
With the loss, the Emeralds fall a game back of first place in the Northwest League South. The Salem-Keizer Volcanoes and Hillsboro Hops, who are tied for first, both won tonight. The AquaSox’s win gives them sole possession of first place in the North.
Eugene (8-6, 25-27) will take on Everett (8-6, 30-22) again Thursday, 7:05 p.m. at PK Park.
Follow Kenny Jacoby on Twitter @KennyJacoby