The first Saturday of the season calls for one thing – a rebrand.
Welcome to the first game of the Eugene Exploding Whales!
Coming off an electric opening day walk off win, the Whales trotted out lefty Hayden Wynja for his first start of the season on Saturday.
Wynja pitched 4.0 innings of two hit baseball with two strikeouts and one earned run. His ability to force the Dust Devils into weak contact early in the game stymied their offense, which never really had a chance to get going during the game.
Wynja fanned two of his first three batters en route to a 1-2-3 first inning, which set the tone for the Exploding Whales.
Eugene’s offense started with a bang as well with a double to deep right-center from Diego Velasquez and a subsequent single to center from Quinn McDaniel.
That was McDaniel’s first of four singles on Saturday — which puts him at six hits for the season so far in his nine at-bats.
That brought up Scott Bandura with runners on the corners with no outs.
Bandura would do just enough, grounding out to first and sending Velasquez home for the Whales’ opening score.
After McDaniel stole second, Bandura’s effort advanced him to third, so when Zach Morgan hit a bloop to center in the next at-bat, it was a nice stroll to home plate for the second run.
Morgan took second on a Jorge Marcheco wild pitch, but he wouldn’t stay there too long. A two-out single from Justin Wishkoski brought Morgan home for a third first inning run.
That was Marcheco’s worst inning of the outing. He would stay in to pitch 4.2 innings, allowing four earned runs and four strikeouts.
Tri-City broke through in the top of the third when Caleb Ketchup roped a line drive up the right field line for a double. Ronaldo Flores’s line-drive-double up the left field line drove Ketchup home for the Dust Devils’ first run of the season.
Wynja was pulled after 4.0 innings of one run ball, which gave way to righty Nick Sinacola to take over at the top of the fifth.
Sinacola’s day began with an infield single by Alberto Rios, but he punched out the following two batters and forced a ground out in two pitches for the third out.
Marcheco continued to look comfortable through the fifth inning, even as the Dust Devils’ catcher Flores had to exit the game after being injured on a catcher’s interference play from Eugene’s Tanner O’Tremba.
McDaniel finally got his first RBI of the season after his third single of the game drove O’Tremba home from second.
That would be Marcheco’s closing act of the night, as the Dust Devils replaced him with lefty Quinton Martinez with two outs in the bottom of the fifth.
The Exploding Whales blew that chance, however, after a Justin Bench lineout to center that turned into a double play at second base.
The Dust Devils had no answer for Sinacola’s off-speed arsenal, which gave the Whales an important defensive advantage in the later innings.
After a McDaniel single sandwiched between two walks from RHP Roman Phansalker, Eugene had its first bases loaded chance of the season with two outs in the bottom of the seventh.
Thomas Gavello stepped up to the plate and worked a 2-2 count from the first five pitches. The next offering came just too far inside for Gavello to take a swing at it, but it scanned the inside of the zone for a called strikeout.
The Whales kept the bats hot in the bottom of the eight off Tri-City righty Willian Suarez. A Justin Bench double, a walk and an incredible O’Tremba single off an incredible bunt loaded the bases.
Eugene would not pass this one up.
Velasquez took one deep into left field for a double, and the subsequent Tri-City scramble for the ball led to the bases being cleared by the time Velasquez rounded second.
The Dust Devils tagged Velasquez out at third to bring some consolation to what was a disastrous play.
The Exploding Whales brought in righty Tyler Vogel to close out Saturday night’s contest in four batters.
Los Monarcas de Eugene will close their opening series against Tri-City at 6:05 p.m. on Sunday.
