The Eugene Emeralds beat the Tri-City Dust Devils 7-0 in the opening game of their six-game series on Tuesday at Gesa Stadium. The Dust Devils lost their ninth game in a row while the Emeralds won their fourth of the last five. Kai-Wei Teng pitched five scoreless innings while the bullpen secured the shutout victory.
The Emeralds struck early. Back-to-back singles with two outs in the first inning loaded the bases, and Tyler Fitzgerald reached on a two-run error by the Dust Devils’ first baseman to give Eugene a 2-0 lead.
Teng, the Giants’ No. 18 prospect, started on the mound for Emeralds, coming in with a rough 8.22 ERA in two starts this year. Teng was supported by some fans holding signs and the Taiwanese flag while rooting him on from the stands.
His control was spotty early on, which plagued him in his first two starts. However, he reached 98 miles per hour and struck out seven in five scoreless innings, keeping the Dust Devils off balance with his erratic pitch location. The outing was a big step in the right direction for Teng.
Will Wilson extended his on-base streak to 11 games with a walk in the second. The Emeralds struggled to make hard contact against Dust Devils righty Zach Linginfelter, and they struck out seven times through three innings against him.
Wilson stayed hot with a hit in the fifth, keeping his hitting streak alive, but the Emeralds didn’t score again until the seventh. Logan Wyatt singled, reached second on an errant pickoff throw and scored on a Sean Roby single to extend the Emeralds’ lead to 3-0.
They came right back at it in the eighth, as Carter Aldrete smashed a massive shot for his first home run of the year, a two-run blast that made it 5-0. First-rounder Patrick Bailey, who had fallen into a bit of a slump, gave Eugene some insurance with a two-out, two-RBI double in the ninth.
Bryce Tucker, Travis Perry, Ryan Walker and R.J. Dabovich combined for four scoreless innings in relief to shut the door on the 7-0 victory.
The Emeralds (9-4) will continue with Game 2 of their series against the Dust Devils (3-10) on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.
