It’s been a rough road trip for the Eugene Emeralds.
They’ve fallen all the way from first place to third place, losing eight of 10 games to two below -.500 teams. They lost 7-4 to the Hillsboro Hops on Friday, falling behind 3-1 in the series. It was a sloppy game that featured five errors — three of which were committed by the Emeralds.
The teams traded two-spots in the first inning. The Emeralds were gifted a pair of runs in their half, as the Hops’ left fielder made an error with two on and two outs. A passed ball brought in a second run to momentarily give Eugene a 2-0 lead.
The lead didn’t last long with Kai-Wei Teng on the mound. He hit a batter and walked another. And, with two outs, he gave up a game-tying two-run single.
Teng continued to struggle with his control, walking a batter in the second inning. A double and a wild pitch brought in a run to give Hillsboro a 3-2 lead.
A single and a pair of walks loaded the bases for the Emeralds in the third, but Marco Luciano struck out. After a gift of a first inning, things were looking iffy yet again for Eugene.
While Teng settled in, the Emeralds melted down defensively in the bottom of the fifth. The inning started with third baseman Sean Roby making a throwing error, and things only got worse from there.
With one out, Luciano missed a throw from Logan Wyatt on a fielder’s choice attempt. One run scored, and another came in on a sacrifice fly. Both runs were completely avoidable, but the Emeralds briefly fell out of sync fundamentally. Teng recorded a strikeout to avoid further damage.
Through the first six innings, the Emeralds were 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position — a problem that has plagued them all road trip.
They drew two walks in the top of the seventh, bringing their total to a whopping 10 on the night, with the game almost at the three-hour mark already. Franklin Labour finally came through, hitting a two-run double to close the gap to 5-4.
The one-run margin didn’t last long though. A run came in on a throwing error by catcher Ricardo Genoves — the Emeralds’ third error of the game — and a hit brought in a second run to make it a three-run game all over again.
The Eugene offense fell quietly in the eighth and ninth, ending another frustrating game. Luciano struck out four times in addition to his costly error.
The Emeralds now sit in third place in the High-A West after entering the week in first place. And it’s no longer the Everett AquaSox who lead the pack — the Spokane Indians have gone on a scalding surge to race by Eugene and Everett.
The Emeralds will try to hang on in the division race on Saturday at 7:05 p.m.
