Jonah Cox homers in Emeralds’ loss 

Jonah Cox was pulling off the ball.

It was real. It was happening. It was affecting everything, his mechanics janky, his approach altered.

Over a ten-game span, dating back to July 5th, Cox struggled at the dish, mustering just eight hits in 39 at-bats, good for a .205 batting average.

Having blasted through the Emeralds’ farm system, Cox had suddenly hit a cold spell, he suddenly lost his touch at the plate and was in danger of blowing his moment.

There were moments of positivity, a conversation with Giants’ senior advising coach and hall-of-famer, aided by a pair of hits including a triple on July, 12th, and of course, his usually dominant self roaming the outfield.

But it wasn’t until Cox’s home run in the first inning of Friday’s 13-5 loss that any thoughts of a one-game wonder were drowned out by the ball soaring over the fence.

Working a six-pitch marathon of an at-bat, Cox lined a 2-2 fastball over the right-center wall. It didn’t give him the biggest night, not with the Emeralds’ pitching staff struggling and allowing six runs over three innings, but the type of swing — and at-bat — Cox worked proves a sign of positive at-bats to come.

The tweaking is over, the swing positively changed, the ball soaring all over the yard.

Cox’s home run was one of many positive subplots underpinning the otherwise letdown of a loss.

First, the team flirted with a big comeback, despite falling down by as many as four early, Eugene came within a few feet of bouncing back. Quinn McDaniel’s long blast to the outfield in the fourth — which would have served as a grand slam — fell just a few feet short of the fence in left-center. Lucky for McDaniel, the Emeralds' flair for the dramatic was as successful as usual. A two-run fifth inning, keyed by a Vaun Brown single, cut Spokane’s lead to one.

The bullpen held the damage in check for most of the game, throwing up zeroes while the Emeralds chipped away. Vaun Brown also added a hit and flagged down a liner in the eighth, temporarily saving runs before Jose Cordova blasted a three-run home run, ending the Emeralds’ comeback hopes for good.

The night was close for most of the game, but a six-run comeback pushed the game all too far apart. Hunter Dula entered in the eighth, limiting the damage and adding a strikeout in relief. His ERA now rests comfortably at 2.21.

The loss drops Eugene to 13-15 in the second half, and knots the series at two apiece.

Still, for Cox, the Giants’ and everyone involved in his professional career, it's hard to look at an otherwise mundane loss as anything but a personal success.

Short hops

Spokane had 25 total baserunners, and only left three on base.