The Eugene Emeralds only needed one run to beat the Tri-City Dust Devils on Wednesday night at PK Park. Instead, they got eight just to be safe.
Not only was the offense potent, but Kai-Wei Teng delivered one of his best starts of the year, and the Emeralds’ bullpen continued their nastiness. Eugene took the game 8-0 in what ended up being a total team effort.
The Emeralds used the home run ball early to create momentum.
In the second inning, with a runner on second, Ismael Munguia launched a moonshot off the batting cage in right field. Munguia knew it was gone right as it left the barrel, and the Emeralds’ bats were off to the races.
On the very next pitch, Brett Auerbach squared up to bunt –– but was nailed by a fastball right in the face. He left the game immediately and was replaced by Nolan Dempsey.
Next inning, it was Sean Roby’s turn to leave the yard. His solo home run to deep left-center gave the Emeralds a 3-0 advantage.
The early cushion was exactly what Emeralds starter Teng needed. Teng has seen his fair share of rough outings this season, but with some early run support, the prospect from Taiwan was able to settle into the game nicely.
The Emeralds broke the game wide open in the fourth.
A single and a perfectly placed double set up “ducks on the pond” with just one out. The next batter, Tyler Fitzgerald, sent a soft ground ball to first baseman Kenyon Yovan. Yovan, the former Duck, didn’t see a fair share of time at first during his time in Eugene, but he’s been patrolling the position thus far for the Dust Devils.
Perhaps his lack of experience at first impacted Yovan –– but, instead of getting an out on the routine grounder, the ball tipped off his glove and flew into right, allowing two runs.
Two batters later, Franklin Labour smacked a double to right, making it 6-0 Emeralds. The Dust Devils opted for a pitching change ahead of the next batter, Heath Quinn. Quinn had different plans however, sending a two-run wall scraping home run to right center. The game was suddenly an onslaught, with the Emeralds leading 8-0.
Tri-City’s offense threatened Teng and the Emeralds consistently throughout the first five innings. Each time however, Teng would miraculously escape the inning unharmed. He gave the Emeralds five scoreless innings on the bump for the second time in as many starts. With the season winding down in just about a month, Teng seems to be peaking at the right time for Eugene.
John Russell got the ball in the sixth and gave up a double to his first batter, Yovan. It was the first professional hit at PK Park for the former Oregon slugger. From there, Russell struck out the side in both that inning and the next one to continue his dominance out of the Emerald bullpen.
Solomon Bates got the rock next. Just like his predecessor Russell, he worked two crisp, scoreless innings in relief to solidify the 8-0 Emeralds victory.
Russell and Bates combined to go four scoreless innings in relief. Of the 12 outs they got combined, eight of them came via strikeout.
With the win, the Emeralds (46-34) have now taken the first two games of the six-game series over Tri-City (31-49.) Among those games, the offense has exploded for 19 runs. Eugene looks to keep the momentum going when the two teams line it up and do it again Thursday at 7:05 p.m.
