Former Eugene Emerald Chris Singleton got things going before the game at PK Park on Saturday with a speech in honor of Juneteenth, sharing his message that love is stronger than hate. Singleton played for the Emeralds in 2017, and lost his mother in the 2015 Mother Emanuel Church Tragedy in Charleston, South Carolina.
The Emeralds followed that up with a 10-5 victory, their fifth win in a row against the Hillsboro Hops and third straight game scoring 10 runs. Ismael Munguia, Will Willson and Franklin Labour all homered, while right-hander Aaron Phillips gave the Emeralds five solid innings of work.
Phillips looked sharp early on, retiring the first two batters. But after a soft infield hit, the runner stole second and scored on a single to give the Hops an early 1-0 lead.
The Emeralds immediately responded against Drey Jameson, the 34th overall pick in 2019. Munguia and Wilson began the bottom of the first with a single and a walk, and the recently promoted Armani Smith tied the game with a single up the middle. Wilson came around to score on a groundout, putting the Emeralds in front.
With two outs, Tyler Flores whacked a two-run double down the right field line to extend the Emeralds’ lead to 4-1. Jacob Gonzalez rubbed salt in the wound with an RBI single that made it 5-1, as all nine Emeralds batted in the first.
The first Hillsboro batter in the second inning hit a routine ground ball to shortstop that Wilson hesitated on, allowing the batter to reach on what was ruled a hit. The runner then stole both second and third, and scored on a throwing error by the third baseman Gonzalez. A single brought home another run to cut the Emeralds’ lead to 5-3.
The Hops continued to “hop” around the basepaths, stealing a total of seven bases in the first two innings. A sacrifice fly brought in another run, cutting the Emeralds’ lead to one. The inning finally ended on a fly ball to the warning track that would have been a grand slam if it had gone out.
Labour hit an opposite-field two-run blast into the parking lot in the third inning that extended the Emeralds’ lead to 7-4. Munguia added another with a solo shot in the fourth.
Despite three errors behind him (including one of his own doing), Phillips settled down. He ended up pitching five innings, allowing four runs (two earned) on five hits and three walks while striking out four.
Wilson put another run on the board with a solo shot to left in the bottom of the sixth, extending the Emeralds’ lead to 9-4.
The Hops got one back in the seventh with three singles against Jasier Herrera, but Herrera struck out the side to avoid further damage.
The Emeralds struck back in the seventh. Smith collected his third hit of the night with a double, and came around to score on a sacrifice fly from Labour to make it 10-5.
Ryan Walker worked around a walk and a hit to pitch the final two scoreless innings, securing the Emeralds’ fifth consecutive victory. In addition to having scored 10 runs in three straight games, they find themselves in first place in the High-A West by a half-game over the Everett AquaSox.
The Emeralds (25-15) will go for the six-game sweep over the Hops on Sunday at 5:05 p.m.
