Zach Morgan slugs away his slump in Exploding Whales' 9-1 win over Hillsboro

After a recent string of “off” days amid a 2-24 slump, the start of Zach Morgan’s season had reached a nadir.

Then three swings (and one shaved mustache) later the Eugene third-year utility man finally found a reprieve.

In a 9-1 blowout win over the Hillsboro Hops, it was Morgan’s pair of early knocks that put the Exploding Whales in front for good. With the way Dylan Cumming was dealing, the six runs Eugene had through three innings felt like overkill.

It didn’t give Morgan a career night offensively, not after he recorded outs in his next three at-bats. Still, following a 9-for-46 start, Morgan’s contribution might have been the most important development Saturday— not only to the final score but also to the trajectory of what had been a slow start to his third professional season.

“I’m In the middle of a cold stretch, gotta change something” Morgan who recently shaved his patented mustache said with a laugh pregame.

His first swing of the day was less than ideal, he fouled a center-cut fastball off to the left. His second and third hacks though? Cathartic to stay the least. He ripped a single in the first, bringing in one, and lined an RBI double off the left-field wall on the first pitch of his second at-bat.

Eugene was 5-12 with RISP amid the outburst.

A year ago, Morgan was a steady presence behind the plate and in the field, driving his way to a .759 OBP in his first full season at the low-A level. He wasn’t immune to early struggles, hitting a pedestrian 18 extra-base hits. Yet, he found a way to maintain his status as a regular starter on a talented team.

He certainly hopes tonight was a step in the right direction.

The back end of the Eugene bullpen also delivered. Underpinning the offensive explosion was Nick Sinacola’s dominance in relief of Cumming who — stop me if you’ve heard this before — dealt.

Cumming’s warm-up song “Miss You” by the Rolling Stones is a perfect representation of how he has time and again, missed bats almost with will.

The only thing that was stopping the right-hander Saturday afternoon was the Giants' organizational pitch count (75) or innings pitched rule (5), no one else was going to slow him down. Certainly not the Hops (8-12).

He worked ahead of batters often, and when he fell behind, used offspeed pitches to keep Hillsboro off-balance.

The only baserunners he allowed came in the third on a seeing-eye single from Jose Fernandez and a walk. Everything else was dominance and his ERA now rests at 0.50 after he’s allowed just one run over his 18 innings this season.

All six of his K’s were swinging.

Hillsboro’s only real chance came with those two runners on in the third. Andrew Pintar looked to have an RBI via a bloop single but his potential knock went just foul. Cumming turned to catcher Jack Payton and laughed, he knew the Hops’ hitters had no chance.

Sinacola entered in the fifth as Cumming’s day was done after allowing two hits and striking out seven over four innings of work.

He continued the dominance on the mound, firing five innings of one-run ball. Of his 57 pitches, 43 were strikes.

Eugene added six runs — three earned — off of Hillsboro starter Wyatt Wendell whose outing was emblematic of a night the Hops will soon wish to forget.

Insurance came in the seventh as Justin Wishikowski’s two-run single was made possible by Matt Higgins reaching base via catcher's-interference. Save for a Pintar solo shot, it was some of the hardest contact a Hillsboro player made all game.