As exciting as Tuesday night’s comeback 9-6 win was, a good old fashioned blowout isn’t so bad to watch either.
The Eugene Emeralds’ offense exploded for nearly a dozen runs on Wednesday night to defeat the Everett AquaSox for the second night in a row at PK Park, 11-5. Home runs, clutch base knocks, situational hitting and impressive at-bats — you name it, the Emerald offense did it on Wednesday.
After Emeralds starter Seth Corry faced the minimum through three innings, Eugene drew first blood in the third. A hit by pitch and single set up first and second for Brett Auerbach, who launched a three-run big fly to right-center field.
The Emerald offense reignited the rally after the home run and forced runners on the corners with two outs, but a broken-bat pop out ended the threat.
John Russell took over for Corry in the fourth. Corry went three innings while surrendering just one hit and striking out three. Since coming back from the developmental list, Corry has been strong in his limited innings.
Russell cruised through his first five batters briskly, but a two-out double and single in the fifth put the AquaSox on the board.
Sean Roby got that run right back in the next half-inning with a solo home run that hit the top of the right field fence. His second home run in as many days made it 4-1 Emeralds.
Everett was back at it again in the fifth to continue an unusual rough outing from Russell.
A double, groundout and hit by pitch put runners on the corners with just one out. Russell turned to pick off to first base, but his throw sailed over the head of Roby, allowing a run to score and another to advance to third. The next batter sent a sacrifice fly to right field to inch the lead down to 4-3.
The AquaSox brought in a submarine reliever out of the bullpen in the sixth, but not even the unique throwing motion could throw off the Emerald offense. They loaded the bases on a pair of base hits and a hit by pitch with no outs for Ismael Munguia.
The Emeralds’ lead-off hitter stepped up big-time, sending a line drive double perfectly over the outstretched right fielder’s glove. Auerbach added salt to the wound next with a single past the drawn-in infield to grow the lead to five. Roby would knock Auerbach in later in the inning with a frozen rope to center to stretch the lead to 9-3.
After Armani Smith’s five-RBI performance on Tuesday and Auerbach’s five-RBI game on Wednesday, it’s clear that the Emeralds’ return back home after a long road trip has proven to be beneficial for the offense.
The Emeralds’ added more insurance in the seventh. After a pair of walks and a wild pitch gifted Eugene runners in scoring position, Carter Aldrete cashed in with a missile off the left field fence to open the floodgates, 11-3.
Tyler Schimpf gave the Emeralds two strong innings in relief out of the bullpen, allowing a run in the process off of a dropped third strike.
With the impending blowout, Everett let their second baseman, Justin Lavey, pitch the eighth. His steady dose of looping fastballs silenced the Emerald offense for the first time since the fourth inning.
Eugene exploded for 11 runs against Everett’s pitching staff, but couldn’t even put a runner on second against the infielder Lavey — baseball in a nutshell.
Taylor Rashi got the nod in the ninth and gave up a one-out moonshot to Dariel Gomez to reduce the lead down to 11-5. Rashi would strike out the next two hitters, however, to solidify the victory.
With the win and a Spokane Indian loss, the Emeralds (63-48) have moved into sole possession of first place in the High-A West for the first time in a while. They lead Spokane by a half game and Everett by 2.5 games.
The Emeralds will be back in action on Thursday night at 7:05 p.m. in Eugene, as they’ll look to make it three in a row over Everett and grow their division lead.
