The Eugene Emeralds were their own worst enemy on Independence Day at Ron Tonkin Field. They made three errors in the field and put together short, uncompetitive at-bats that led to their third straight loss to the Hillsboro Hops, 6-1. They wound up splitting the series after initially going ahead three games to zero.
Taylor Rashi served as the opener for Eugene. He’s been really good lately, but kicked things off on a sour note, allowing a first-inning solo homer.
Sean Roby, normally a third baseman, was slotted in at first base for the day, and dropped a routine pop fly that extended the inning. After some discussion over whether it might have been interference, shortstop Will Wilson made a nice play to hold the deficit at one run.
In the second, Rashi worked around a single to pitch a scoreless frame, recording his first strikeout of the night in the process. Roby motioned like he thought there might have still only been two outs, but had a laugh with himself as he realized it was the third out and jogged back to the dugout.
Carter Aldrete collected the Emeralds’ first hit with one out in the third, but Wilson grounded into an inning-ending double play.
Nick Avila took over for Rashi in the third. He’s struggled this year, but struck out the side in order to kick off his outing. Roby’s adventurous day in the field continued, tripping and falling on his way back to the dugout after the inning. He stayed down on the ground for a noticeable amount of time, and then threw his hat in frustration as he made his way into the dugout.
The Emeralds’ offense continued to go down quickly and quietly as they couldn’t muster anything up.
Avila made an errant pickoff throw in the fifth that allowed the baserunner to advance to second. The error came back to haunt the Emeralds, as the next batter singled to extend the Hops’ lead to 2-0. The following batter also singled, and the runner rounding third halted. But right fielder Franklin Labour threw the ball way off line, allowing the runner to jog home.
The Emeralds proved to be their own worst enemy as they trailed 3-0.
Things went from bad to ugly as Avila gave up a two-run blast in the sixth and a solo shot in the seventh that extended the Emeralds’ deficit to 6-0.
The Eugene offense finally got something going in the eighth, as Ricardo Genoves singled and Labour walked. But they couldn’t capitalize, as the next three batters flew out.
Wilson made the Emeralds’ fourth error of the game in the bottom of the eighth, a throw in the dirt that Roby couldn’t hold onto. At the time, the Emeralds had as many errors as hits on the night.
With two outs in the ninth, Tyler Fitzgerald drove in Armani Smith with a double to narrowly avoid the Emeralds’ second shutout of the year. They still fell 6-1, losing their third straight and splitting the six-game series.
The Emeralds will look to rebound in a home series against the Everett AquaSox starting Tuesday at 7:05 p.m. It will be a key matchup between the top two teams in the High-A West.
