“You’re killin’ me, Smalls!” the PK Park loudspeaker blared before the Eugene Emeralds took the field on Friday. They looked to shake off two consecutive losses to the first-place Everett AquaSox by celebrating Sandlot Night at the ballpark. That iconic line continued to play throughout the night, along with various clips and tributes.
But things didn’t go the Emeralds’ way once again, as they lost their third straight by a score of 8-2. They fell behind 3-1 in the series and 3.5 games behind the AquaSox for first place in the High-A West. Giants No. 8 prospect Kai-Wei Teng looked solid early but things quickly unraveled for him in his second consecutive rough start, and the offense could never catch up.
By the end of the game, “You’re killin’ me, Smalls!” would have been an appropriate line for the Emeralds to say to the AquaSox.
Teng took the hill for Eugene looking to bounce back from a rough start where he only went two innings. After surrendering a leadoff single, he recorded two strikeouts en route to a scoreless first inning. Right out of the gate, he looked to have a much better feel for his breaking pitches than in his last outing.
As Teng walked into the dugout, the umpires checked him for foreign substances, similar to what they’re doing in MLB. Teng was ejected and suspended last month for doctoring his glove.
Teng gave up a one-out solo homer in the second in an otherwise clean inning, as the AquaSox took another early lead on the Emeralds, 1-0.
After striking out the first batter in the third, Teng issued his first walk, despite showing some of the best control he’s had all season up until that point. He then surrendered a run-scoring double to deep right field, extending the Emeralds’ deficit to 2-0.
Teng began to unwind, issuing a four-pitch walk. After pitching coach Alan Quijano paid a visit to the mound to calm him down, Teng threw a first-pitch fastball that was hit over the right field fence: a three-run bomb that broke it open to 5-0.
Teng appeared timid to throw strikes after he seemed so comfortable early on, as he hit a batter and issued another walk. He got through the third inning with no further damage, but was pulled from the game afterward.
The offense, meanwhile, was lifeless as the first 10 Emeralds were retired. Brett Auerbach finally broke the streak with a one-out walk in the fourth as he continued his solid first impression with the team.
With two outs, Sean Roby gave the Emeralds their first hit in the form of an RBI double into the left field corner, cutting the deficit to 5-1.
They got another run back in the fifth, as Heath Quinn hit an RBI double to make it 5-2.
Travis Perry pitched a scoreless fourth and fifth inning. Tyler Fitzgerald, slotted over to shortstop after Will Wilson was promoted, made some slick plays behind Perry.
Third baseman Carter Aldrete made an error to begin the sixth, and Perry gave up a two-run homer to the next batter. The Emeralds found themselves back at square one, down five runs.
Ryan Walker recorded the final two outs of the sixth and worked through a scoreless seventh, striking out three in the process.
Tyler Schimpf entered in the eighth, and surrendered a walk and a pair of singles that brought home another Everett run. Another single and a walk loaded the bases, but Schimpf struck out back-to-back hitters to hold the deficit at 8-2.
After briefly coming alive in the fourth and fifth, the Emeralds’ offense fell silent again against Everett starter Tim Elliott. Elliott ended up going eight innings, retiring the last 11 Emeralds he faced after initially retiring the first 10. He threw 103 pitches.
The Emeralds went down in order in the ninth, so the last 14 batters were retired overall as they lost 8-2. They’re 2-7 against the AquaSox this year, and 32-16 against everyone else.
A silver lining was that the pitching staff struck out 16, and has struck out 57 in 36 innings this series.
The Emeralds will look to avoid their second series loss of the season in Game 5 on Saturday at 7:05 p.m.
