Volcanoes Walk-Off On Ems In Series Opener
The Eugene Emeralds (10-16) dropped the first game of a four-game series against the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes (18-8) on Wednesday evening, falling by a final score of 6-5.
The Eugene Emeralds (10-16) dropped the first game of a four-game series against the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes (18-8) on Wednesday evening, falling by a final score of 6-5.
Fresh off an off day and two days removed from dropping a short, two-game series to the Volcanoes at home, the Emeralds made the hour-long trip north to rematch against the South Division's first place team.
Ems second baseman Chase Strumpf continued his streak of strong play by quickly giving Eugene a 1-0 advantage. With
Both offenses were held at bay until the fifth inning when Perlaza turned from run scorer to run producer. With Darius Hill on second after a leadoff double to start the inning, Perlaza picked up a double of his own, easily scoring Hill and doubling the Eugene advantage.
The explosive Volcanoes offense woke up in the bottom half of the inning, though. With Ems starting pitcher
The Ems bounced back in the eighth to tie the score, starting with a leadoff walk from Strumpf and a Zac Taylor double that put runners on second and third with no outs. After a Grayson Byrd strikeout, Nelson Maldonado singled on the first ball he saw from
In the ninth, Eugene jumped back into the lead on the heels of more early-inning success at the plate. After a leadoff double from
However, the Volcanoes immediately responded in the bottom half of the inning. With Emeralds reliever
Emeralds starting pitcher Kohl Franklin put together his fifth straight strong start, tossing 4.0 scoreless innings with 4 strikeouts while allowing 3 hits and 2 walks. Franklin has allowed no more than one run in any of his five starts this season, and Wednesday's outing was his second scoreless performance of the year thus far.
A pair of Emeralds pitchers made their debuts with Eugene on what was another busy transaction day for the Ems. Brandon Hughes, a former Emerald outfielder (2017) who was converted to pitcher in the recent offseason, struggled in his Emeralds debut on the mound tossing 2.0 innings allowing 5 hits and 4 earned runs with 1 strikeout. Tanner Dalton, recently promoted from the AZL, fared much better on the evening, tossing 2.0 innings with 2 hits, 1 walk and 2 strikeouts. Chase Strumpf and Yonathan Perlaza both went 2-for-4 at the plate, with Perlaza driving in 2 runs compared to Strumpf's 1 RBI. Over the last three games, Strumpf is batting .615 (8-for-13) with 4 RBI after going 1-for-12 over the previous three games.
The Emeralds and Volcanoes face off again on Thursday evening at 6:35pm with RHP
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