The Eugene Emeralds won the first three games of their series against the Hillsboro Hops at Ron Tonkin Field this week, and at the time had won their last 10 matchups with Hillsboro and led the High-A West.
But they lost the next three games, settling for a series split and now find themselves 1.5 games behind the Everett AquaSox for first place. Their offense, which has come and gone in spurts this season, let them down, while the pitching wasn’t spectacular enough to make up for it.
The offense struggled
While they scored 14 runs in the first two games, they scored only 11 in the next four. They looked especially lifeless in those three losses, putting together short, uncompetitive at-bats. For the series, they put up a .235/.302/.363 batting line as a team.
A handful of Emeralds struggled at the plate. Tyler Fitzgerald and Franklin Labour, both of whom came into this series hot, each cooled off with OPSs around .600. Newly promoted catcher Ricardo Genoves made an impression in his first game with the team back in Eugene, but went only 3-for-17 this series.
Sean Roby went just 2-for-19 with a .190 OBP, and struggled in the field as well.
There were, however, a couple standouts. Armani Smith homered three times and posted a 1.077 OPS, while Will Wilson got back into a bit of a groove with a .296/.321/.593 line. Wilson has had some peaks and valleys but has been hitting the ball hard all season, and overall has been the Emeralds’ best hitter.
Logan Wyatt continued to do what he does best: get on base. He put up a .500 OBP, bringing his season OBP to .407 despite still not having found his power stroke.
The pitching was pedestrian
The Emeralds’ pitching staff wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great enough to fully overcome the underwhelming offensive showing. They posted a 4.06 ERA, although they limited opponents to a .233 batting average.
Once again, walks came back to haunt the Emeralds. Giants No. 5 prospect Seth Corry has struggled with walks the most, issuing more than a walk per inning, but it’s really been a team-wide struggle as well. They issued 26 free passes in 51 innings, and have a 4.39 BB/9 for the season.
They also just weren’t as dominant, only striking out 48 in 51 innings. Their season K/9 is still an impressive 11.25, but that number has been slipping in recent weeks.
Huge series coming up
The Emeralds will now face a mighty opponent: the first-place Everett AquaSox. It will likely be their most important series of the year thus far, as if things go well, they can climb back into first place. But if things don’t go well, they could lose grasp of the division race completely.
The Emeralds have faced the AquaSox only once this year, in Everett back in early June. They lost four out of five games, with the sixth game being rained out. It was the only series they’ve lost all season.
The two teams will face off at PK Park this week, as each club seeks to prove that they’re the best baseball team in the High-A West. The AquaSox have been rolling, winning nine of their last 10.
The series will start with Game 1 on Tuesday at 7:05 p.m.
