Emeralds Win 4th Straight Against Spokane

The Eugene Emeralds defeated the Spokane Indians by a final score of 11-4. The Ems have now won 4 straight ball games against Spokane and have clinched a series win over the Indians. The Emeralds boast a 32-30 record.

The Emeralds struck first in the ballgame tonight. Brett Auerbach singled with one out and was able to steal 2nd base. Two batters later, Victor Bericoto, drove him in to score the first run of the game. The Ems had a chance to score more with a couple of runners on but Spokane turned a great double play to get out of the inning. Eugene would add another run in the 3rd inning. Edison Mora started the inning out with a double. After the next two batters got out, Carter Howell delivered a very clutch two out double that score Mora and gave Eugene the 2-0 lead after the first 3 innings.

Eugene kept on scoring in the 4th inning. Luis Toribio reached via walk and Ghordy Santos followed it up with a single. Edison Mora was able to reach base after he got hit by a pitch and that loaded up the bases with just 1-out for Grant McCray. He delivered in the clutch and was able to hit a ball out to left field and scored two runs. Both Toribio and Santos were able to touch home on the hit and the Ems had the 4-0 lead after 4 innings.

Spokane would answer back and score their first run of the ballgame in the home half of the 5th inning. Zach Kokoska doubled and a couple of batters later, Ronaiker Palma hit a single that scored Kokoska and gave Spokane their first run of the ballgame. By that point the Emeralds starter Hayden Birdsong had exited the game. It was a fantastic Emeralds debut for Birdsong who is just 21 years old. He pitched 4 innings, allowing just 2 hits and 2 walks. He didn’t give up an earned run and struck out 3 batters. You can’t ask for a much better start from Birdsong who looked the part of a top prospect. He was drafted in 2022, but has already cracked into the top-30 prospects in the Giants farm system according to MLB.com.

Eugene wouldn’t let the Spokane run go unanswered as they decided to respond with a run of their own in the top of the 6th. Aeverson Arteaga and Luis Toribio led the inning off with a single and after a couple of wild pitches, Arteaga was able to touch home and score to give Eugene the 5-1 lead through the first 6 innings. Seth Lonsway pitched the 5th inning for Eugene and Tanner Kiest pitched the 6th and 7th. Kiest pitched two scoreless and hitless innings and struck out 2 batters. It was enough to qualify him for a win as he earned his first win as an Emerald.

The scoring would slow down in the 7th inning for both ball clubs, but it was the top of the 8th where Eugene really blew the game open. Luis Toribio and Ghordy Santos reached base via walk to start out the inning. Edison Mora hit into a fielder's choice that put runners on the corners for the Ems. Grant McCray struck out and the Emeralds had two outs with no runs scored. There was a balk that then scored Toribio for the first run of the inning. Victor Bericoto decided to keep his hot month of June rolling with an RBI-Single that scored a pair of runs. Adrian Sugastey followed it up with a double to plate two more runs and give Eugene a 5 run top of the 8th inning and blow the game completely open.

Spokane wouldn’t stop fighting even though they trailed 10-1. They put up a pair of runs in the home half of the 8th. Sterlin Thompson had an RBI-Single that scored a run and Braiden Ward was able to score on a wild pitch to cut the lead to 10-3. In the top of the 9th inning Eugene decided to add on an insurance run as Luis Toribio absolutely clobbered a baseball off the scoreboard here at Avista Stadium. It was his first home run of the series. Even though he has 4 hits over 5 games, he’s been an on base machine as he has reached base via walk 7 times.

In the bottom of the 9th Spokane kept on swinging. Zach Kokoska led the inning off with a leadoff home run that he hit out of the stadium and into the parking lot. A.J Lewis walked and Ronaiker Palma singled to give Spokane a pair of base runners with 1 out. Braiden Ward grounded out to advance the runners and Benny Montgomery ended the game on a groundout to the shortstop Aeverson Arteaga to give Eugene the 11-4 win.

For the Emeralds this game was a must-win for them to keep their hopes alive for a first half title in the Northwest League. They trail the 1st place Vancouver Canadians by 3.5 games with 4 games remaining left in the first half. The Emeralds need to win tomorrow and have the Canadians drop tomorrows ballgame against the Hops to keep the Emeralds hopes alive. If those both don’t happen, they would be eliminated from the race. If those two things do happen however, they’ll head home to PK Park with a shot at the title. They would need to win all 3 games against the Canadians as well as having the Tri-City Dust Devils drop one of their next four games.

It’s an uphill battle for Eugene, but we’ve seen them rattle off four straight wins against Spokane so you can never count them out. They’ll be back in action tomorrow afternoon with a 1:05 P.M first pitch and John Michael Bertrand on the bump.