After firing off five straight convincing wins last week, back-to-back losses have slowed down the Eugene Emeralds’ momentum in the High-A West. They needed a win Thursday night at Ron Tonkin Field against their in-state rival Hillsboro Hops to get back on track and in the win column.
It looked like the Emeralds were in store for their third straight loss early, but yet another gritty performance from their bullpen and late timely offense changed their fortunes for the better. It wasn’t easy. But, in the end, the Emeralds reigned victorious 11-6 in 10 innings.
The two squads traded first inning solo home runs to kick the game off. For the Emeralds, it was Tyler Fitzgerald who hit the long ball, extending his team lead to 14.
The Hops put pressure early and often on Emeralds starter Conner Nurse. They grabbed a two-run advantage in the second off an RBI single and a sacrifice fly.
Eugene cut the lead in half in the next inning off of Kwan Adkins’ first home run as an Emerald. In Rookie ball, Adkins was tearing the cover off the baseball with five home runs while batting .299 and slugging .582.
The Hops, again, struck in the third inning with a two-run home run by Tristin English to stretch the lead to 5-2.
Of the first six half innings of play, five of them resulted in runs. Nurse wouldn’t last much longer after surrendering his second home run of the game. He went just four innings in another outing that he’d soon like to forget.
A walk and a double gave the Emeralds some two-out life in the sixth. The next batter, Marco Luciano, worked the count impressively — something he hasn’t done much off since being called up — but he eventually struck out. Luciano has now struck out 16 times in his 30 at-bats as an Emerald.
Thankfully, a hit by pitch and a pair of walks put the Emeralds back in the driver’s seat in the seventh. Heath Quinn stepped up next and failed to do his job, as he sent a weak pop-up to right. The next batter, Carter Aldrete, fell behind immediately 0-2.
For a second it looked as if the Emeralds were going to miss a huge opportunity by stranding the bases loaded, but Aldrete clutched up with a two-run single to left. Robert Emery followed it up with an RBI single of his own to knot the game at five.
John Russell delivered another masterful performance out of the bullpen for Eugene with three scoreless innings. He has made a living of giving the Emeralds reliable innings of relief when the starter doesn’t perform to par like Thursday night.
After failing to do his job in the seventh, Quinn gave the Emeralds their first lead of the night in the eighth with a solo bomb to left.
Ryan Walker picked up where Russell left off in the bullpen by working a one-two-three eighth, while picking up two strikeouts in the process.
Chris Wright got the rock in the ninth, looking to shut the door on a one-run Emerald win, but the Hops had other plans. With one out, AJ Vukovich reached third on a fly ball to center that Adkins misplayed — a tough way for the new Emerald to make his defensive presence felt.
The next batter sent a sacrifice fly to left allowing Vukovich to score and, once again, tie the game at six.
With MLB’s recently implemented extra inning rules, Sean Roby began the inning off at second for Eugene. Back-to-back singles and a walk gave the Emeralds a 7-6 advantage while the bases remained loaded.
Fitzgerald stepped in next and put the game on ice with a grand slam to left field. After a seesaw affair all night where neither team could grab a comfortable lead, the Emeralds now seized an 11-6 advantage.
Wright came back in the 10th and had more of a Wright-esque inning by sending the Hops down scoreless, even with the lead-off runner at second.
With the gritty 11-6 victory, the Emeralds have now reached the 50 win plateau — but more importantly, they have snapped out of their three-game slump.
The two teams will be back in action on Friday night with the first pitch slated for 7:05 p.m. in Hillsboro.
