Manuel Mercedes shines in bullpen game victory

From his first day as Eugene’s skipper Jeremiah Knackstedt made his purpose in Eugene clear: “Win games and develop guys at the same time.”

The former, of late, has been a struggle. With Eugene mired in a 5-11 stretch that has lasted nearly three weeks.

So it was invigorating Saturday evening for the Knackstedt and the Giants to see what transpired at PK Park. Players on the bench roared as Quinn McDaniel doubled. Hunter Dula earned an embrace from Zach Morgan after shutting the door in the ninth. All Whales laughed and smiled while walking to the clubhouse on a night where the game ended 3-1 in favor of Eugene.

Of late, that hasn’t been the case for the Ems (24-19). With the team struggling to string hits together, execute pitches and play winning baseball of any kind, the continuation of the skid seemed likely. Lucky for them they had a trio of roadblocks in the form of Jack Choate, Manuel Mercedes and Hunter Dula — each of the pitchers combining nine frames of one-run ball in a true team victory.

With the Giants mandated 80-pitch, five-inning limit, It's a given that each Eugene game will be of the bullpen variety. The team took that regulation to a new extreme Saturday night, utilizing three pitchers — two of which began the season as starters — in the Spokane ( which had seven hits but went just 2-8 with runners in scoring-positon) bat-quieting victory.

Choate started the day effectively. He utilized all pitches well, mixing in a fastball that topped at 91 with a slider and changeup. He used the latter to strike out Dyan Jorge to end the third — the southpaw's third and final K of the night after facing just two batters over the minimum.

Then it was Mercedes’ turn — the right-hander relegated to the bullpen after a few unlucky, unproductive starts. He wobbled a bit, walking or hitting two while allowing three hits and a run, but continued relatively unscathed. He completed the majority of the work, tossing five innings. Although he struck out just three, Mercedes made up for it by utilizing his pitches well en route to a remarkable nine groundouts.

With the way the Whales were pitching the three runs they did score — two of three came in the first — were almost superfluous.

Eugene added two early tallies in the first via a Justin Wishkowski single and a Diego Velasquez sac fly. Another run in the eighth — this one via a Matt Higgins single — proved necessary with Dula’s struggles but the pitching clearly spearheaded the night where Eugene mustered just five hits

Another recent struggle of late, errors, were cleaned up too. In fact, the Ems thrived in that particular department with a lunging grab on a grounder from Velasquez and a diving grab from Alexander Suarez the most notable highlights.

Dula allowed a run on a bloop single but otherwise shut the door, sending 2,772 home happy on a warm Eugene evening.

Pregame the team took on-field batting practice for the first time all series, but it was the pitchers who stole the show making Knackstedt’s preseason mantra more than feasible.

Short hops

A day after the Ems mustered just one extra-base hit, Quinn McDaniel met that same number with a first-inning ground-rule double.

A fourth-inning 94-mph fastball from Mercedes ran up and hit Spokane’s Juan Guerrero. The very next pitch — an inside fastball — was fouled right into Jesus Ordonez’s leg. A painful pair of pitches.