Oregon basketball star Sedona Prince threw the first pitch as the Eugene Emeralds took the field at PK Park on Sunday, looking to end an ugly four-game winning streak.
The first round of the 2021 MLB draft was also occurring during the game, and the Giants selected Mississippi State right-hander Will Bednar. He could very well find himself in a Eugene uniform as soon as later this season.
The Emeralds put up a stronger fight than they had in the previous four games, but they still ultimately couldn’t catch up as the Everett AquaSox took them down handily, 10-4. Seth Corry’s control issues came back to plague him in an ugly fourth inning, and a four-run eighth for the AquaSox put the game out of reach.
Corry got the rock for Eugene to start things off, looking to calm his wild ways. He entered with 45 walks and 13 hit batsmen in 46 1/3 innings this year.
The AquaSox came out swinging as they have all series, with an infield single off Corry’s glove and a hard-hit ground rule double to right field.
Corry recorded his first strikeout, but a single tapped to left field brought home the game’s first run. Corry issued a two-out walk to load the bases, and a seeing-eye single brought in two more runs. Yet again, the AquaSox jumped out to an early lead, this time 3-0.
The first two Emeralds in the bottom of the first made outs, and it looked like it might be another long game. But Armani Smith singled and Sean Roby doubled to set things up for Ricardo Genoves, who singled them both in and got the Emeralds back within a run.
In the second inning, Carter Aldrete hit an opposite-field bomb just beyond the outstretched glove of the Everett right fielder, tying the game at three apiece. It was Aldrete’s second homer in the last two nights.
Corry got through the second and third inning without any walks. But with one out in the fourth, his control imploded on him. He issued four consecutive walks, forcing in a run and giving the AquaSox a 4-3 lead.
A two-out single brought in two more runs, pulling the string on Corry’s evening. The outing brought his total to 51 walks in exactly 50 innings pitched this season. That’s the most walks of anyone in Minor League Baseball.
Robert Emery led off the bottom of the fifth with a solo shot, his first homer as an Emerald to cut the deficit to 6-4.
Austin Reich and Taylor Rashi combined for 3 1/3 scoreless innings in relief to keep the Emeralds in the game. But John Russell entered in the eighth, allowing two walks and a three-run homer that extended the AquaSox’ lead to 9-4. A 10th run came home on a fielder’s choice.
Ismael Munguia provided an RBI single with two outs in the ninth, but the Emeralds couldn’t dig their way out of the hole.
The Emeralds have now lost five straight, a skid that has seen them fall 5.5 games behind Everett for first place in the High-A West. Their run differential is negative for the first time all season at -2, while Everett’s has skyrocketed up to +179.
They’ll look to get back on track on the road next week, with a series against the Spokane Indians starting Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.
