Eugene Topples Tri-City In Gritty Win
The Eugene Emeralds (47-34) continued to close the gap on first place Everett on Thursday night thanks to a 7-4 victory over the visiting Tri-City Dust Devils (31-50) in the third game of a six-game series at PK Park. THE DETAILS: - Winning Pitcher: Travis Perry (9-1, 2.42 ERA): 2.2
The Eugene Emeralds (47-34) continued to close the gap on first place Everett on Thursday night thanks to a 7-4 victory over the visiting Tri-City Dust Devils (31-50) in the third game of a six-game series at PK Park.
THE DETAILS:
- Winning Pitcher: Travis Perry (9-1, 2.42 ERA): 2.2 IP | 2 H | 0 R | 0 BB | 3 K
- Losing Pitcher: Zach Linginfelter (2-6, 4.71 ERA): 1.2 IP | 3 H | 2 R | 2 ER | 1 BB | 1 K
- Save: Chris Wright (8)
- HR(s): Eugene: Smith (5) | Tri-City: N/A
HOW IT HAPPENED: The primary storyline entering Thursday night’s game was, of course, Marco Luciano.
The 19-year-old phenom that is widely considered one of the top prospects in all of baseball was officially added to the Emeralds roster on Wednesday after the San Francisco Giants opted to promote the shortstop from Low-A San Jose to High-A Eugene.
Fittingly enough, it was Luciano who got the scoring started in his Emeralds debut.
Coming to the plate in the third with runners on second and third after a Robert Emery single and an Ismael Munguia bloop double, respectively, Luciano laced the first pitch he saw into the left field corner to easily score both runners and put the Emeralds in the driver’s seat, 2-0.
Welcome to High-A, Marco!
— Eugene Emeralds (@EugeneEmeralds) August 6, 2021
The #SFGiants prospect tallies his first hit and first RBI as an Emerald 👏 #GoEms x #SFGiants pic.twitter.com/2B8QUMoc1J
One batter later, Luciano was able to take his time coming home as Armani Smith roasted a 2-2 offering 431 feet to left, nicking the light tower on what was his fifth homer of the season and doubling Eugene’s lead with one swing, 4-0.
Smith sends it WAYYYYY outta here 👋
— Eugene Emeralds (@EugeneEmeralds) August 6, 2021
Monster shot from @maniBo888 (1⃣0⃣6⃣ MPH and 4⃣3⃣1⃣ feet) adds to the lead!#GoEms x #SFGiants pic.twitter.com/vZ6xvyNfI6
The Dust Devils, who were fresh off being shutout by the Ems the night prior, began chipping into Eugene’s lead in the fifth, starting with a Griffin Mazur sac fly that scored Kyle Kasser from third to trim Tri-City’s deficit to three.
One inning later, Oregon Duck Kenyon Yovan came through with his second double in as many days, this one driving home Kevin Maitan to make it 4-2. Three batters later, after a Kyle Kasser single and a Francisco Del Valle strikeout, Griffin Mazur doubled a pair of Ducks home in the form of Yovan and Kasser to tie the game at 4-4.
The Emeralds offense, which struggled leaving runners on base through the first few frames, came through to retake the lead in the seventh. With the bases loaded, no outs and Carter Adrete at the plate, the versatile infielder belted a double to the right-center field gap to bring home a pair of runs and put the Ems back in front, 6-4. Two batters later, Ismael Munguia added another run for the Ems with an RBI single to center that put Eugene up by three, 7-4.
.@CarterRoo21 comes through! 😤
— Eugene Emeralds (@EugeneEmeralds) August 6, 2021
Aldrete puts us back in front with a clutch two-strike, 2-RBI double. #GoEms x #SFGiants pic.twitter.com/pgft6yWSHH
Eugene’s bullpen kept the Tri-City offense in check the rest of the way as the Ems won their third consecutive game to start the home series against the visiting Dust Devils, 7-4.
Eugene got 5.0 innings out of a starting pitcher for the third consecutive night as right-hander Aaron Phillips fired 5.1 innings with five hits, three walks, four earned runs and four strikeouts.
Closer Chris Wright moved to 12-for-12 in save opportunities this season after striking out two of four batters faced in the ninth inning.
PEAK PERFORMERS:
- Travis Perry – RHP: Perry picked up his league-leading ninth win of the season. The next closest High-A West player in that category has six wins. Six. Perry has been superb out of the Emeralds bullpen all season long, and Thursday night was no exception. The New Jersey native fired 2.2 scoreless innings with three strikeouts while allowing just two hits and no walks.
- Sean Roby – 1B: Roby continues to rule the month of August. While Thursday marked the first game of the current series that Roby did not homer in, he still finished 3-for-5 at the plate with a double.
- Armani Smith – RF: Smith’s monster shot to left was one of the highlights of another strong offensive night for the Ems at PK Park. The slugger finished 3-for-5 with the homer, two RBIs and a run scored.
- Robert Emery – C: Bobby Knocks quietly continues to produce. After a 2-for-4 night (which was almost 3-for-4 save for an excellent defensive play by Tri-City SS Livian Soto), Emery is now batting .292 as an Emerald with an .810 OPS.
WHAT’S NEXT: The Eugene Emeralds continue their series with the Tri-City Dust Devils (Los Angeles Angels) on Friday at PK Park. Friday is Family 4-Pack Friday where fans can use the promo code ‘FAM4’ at EmeraldsBaseball.com to get four box seat tickets for just $48.
You can catch all the action Matt Dompe on the call via MiLB.tv, 95.3FM The Score, MiLB.com or on the MiLB app.
Because the Emeralds also scored six runs on Thursday, fans can use the promo code ‘TIX4SIX’ when purchasing tickets online at www.EmeraldsBaseball.com before first pitch on Friday to get 50% off box seat tickets to ANY remaining Emeralds home game.
Tickets to Emeralds home games are available at www.EmeraldsBaseball.com or by calling (541) 342-5367.
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