Entering Friday’s game against the Tri-City Dust Devils, the Eugene Emeralds had gained three games in the standings in the last three days.
They made that four with authority on Friday, wiping out the Dust Devils 20-2 in a complete blowout. In his second game with Eugene, Marco Luciano hit his first High-A homer, while Tyler Fitzgerald hit for the cycle by the fifth inning. Sean Roby and Ismael Munguia also reached base five times each. The team combined for 21 hits in an offensive onslaught unlike any the Emeralds have put up all season.
With the Emeralds winning their fourth straight, and the Everett AquaSox losing their fourth straight, Eugene suddenly finds itself back in the hunt for first place in the High-A West.
After Conner Nurse struck out two in a perfect first inning, the offense struck immediately in the bottom of the frame. Munguia led off with a double, and Armani Smith hit one off the base of the wall that bounced and rolled for an RBI triple.
After Roby drew a walk, Fitzgerald beat out what appeared to be a routine groundout for an infield single. Another run came home, and the Emeralds jumped out to a 2-0 lead.
In the second, Nurse issued a walk to former Duck Kyle Kasser, who reached base for the seventh time in three games this series. Nurse issued another walk with two outs, but collected his third and fourth strikeouts of the night to navigate through a scoreless second inning.
Carter Aldrete reached on a throwing error to get things started in the bottom of the second. With one out, Munguia poked an inside-out chopper to the left side for his second hit in as many innings.
Up came Luciano, the 19-year-old phenom who’s ranked as the No. 1 prospect in the Giants system and No. 11 in all of baseball. He smashed one the opposite way, all the way on top of the shed in right field, for a three-run homer, busting the score open to 5-0.
The Emeralds weren’t done there, with Roby singling and Fitzgerald driving him in with a deep triple to left field. Ricardo Genoves then popped one up to shallow right field, and former Duck Kenyon Yovan backpedaled, but couldn’t quite make the catch as it dropped in for an RBI “double.”
All told, it was a five spot for the Emeralds, and they led 7-0 after just two innings.
The onslaught continued in the third, with Munguia driving in another run with a single and Roby knocking in two more with a double. Fitzgerald knocked in the fourth run of the inning with a double of his own and was a home run away from the cycle in only the third inning.
Eugene led 11-0, while the Dust Devils were yet to record a hit.
Nurse looked as locked in as he’s been all season, with seven strikeouts in 4 1/3 hitless innings. The first hit he allowed came with one out in the sixth — a solo homer onto the right field shed, the same place Luciano hit his.
With two on and two outs in the fifth, Fitzgerald needed a homer for the cycle — and he promptly did just that, smashing one to center field for a three-run bomb that made it 14-1.
Nurse wound up giving up one run on just two hits through six innings. Not usually a strikeout pitcher, he punched out an uncharacteristic nine batters in his best start of the year. The nine strikeouts tied his career high.
The first two Emeralds reached in the sixth — including Aldrete’s second time reaching on an error — and Tyler Flores joined the fun, absolutely imploding on a ball to right field. Everyone froze as the three-run blast made it 17-1.
Apparently a cycle wasn’t enough for Fitzgerald, as he doubled in the seventh. Genoves then hit one that the center fielder completely misplayed, falling in for a “double” and bringing in two more to make it 19-1. With two outs, Flores poked one into right field to bring in the 20th Eugene run.
People named Tyler had a combined eight hits, two home runs and eight RBIs for the Emeralds.
Bryce Tucker and Jasier Herrera each pitched a scoreless inning in relief. Taylor Rashi gave up a solo homer in the ninth, but shut the door on the 20-2 victory. Amazingly, even with all the runs, the game didn’t even reach the three-hour mark.
The Emeralds won their fourth consecutive game, while the AquaSox lost their fourth straight game in Spokane. The Emeralds have now closed the gap in the High-A West to 3.5 games.
They’ll go for their fifth straight win on Saturday at 7:05 p.m.
