Oregon baseball put up six runs in the bottom of the first inning and never looked back, beating Portland by a final of 8-2 in Tuesday’s home opener at PK Park.
Aaron Payne lead off the bottom of the first inning with a four-pitch walk and was sacrificed over to second by Austin Grebeck. The Ducks (8-0) proceeded to string together four straight singles to take a 3-0 lead. With runners at first and second, Shaun Chase launched a 3-2 curveball into the Portland bullpen in left field to give Oregon a 6-0 lead. The Ducks would record five hits and send 10 batters to the plate in the inning against Portland starting pitcher Jackson Lockwood.
“He was throwing me backdoor breaking balls and fastballs on the inner half and then he finally hung the curveball,” Chase said. “It felt really good. It felt effortless.”
Lockwood would last just two more frames, surrendering a run in both the second and third inning. He allowed eight runs on nine hits in three innings.
Staring at an 8-0 deficit, the Pilots (2-6) managed two runs on three hits in the top of the fourth. Caleb Whalen led off the inning with a double down the left field line and would later score from third on a Ryan Littlefield groundout. The next batter, Davis Tominaga just missed a home run that ricocheted off the right field wall. He would settle for a triple and score on a single by the next batter, Ryan Barr.
That was the last hit Portland would muster, as starting pitcher Jeff Gold and the Oregon bullpen combined to limit the Pilots to just a walk and a hit batsman from that point on. Gold finished the night allowing two runs on three hits with seven strikeouts and zero walks. The seven strikeouts tied a career high for Gold, who punched out seven batters almost a year ago to the date against Portland.
Despite picking up his second win of the season, Gold deflected praise to his batterymate, Shaun Chase, noting that he did a good job framing pitches throughout the night.
“Shaun works hard for me and I love it,” Gold said. “Me and him have always had a good connection. We’re good friends and we talk pitching a lot with each other. He’s familiar with me and what I like to do.”
Chase finished the night 2-for-4 at the plate, adding a bunt single in his second at bat. Coach George Horton talked up Chase’s performance both at the plate and defensively for Oregon, saying that he was “one of the best players of the game.”
Left-hander Porter Clayton relieved Gold and registered three strikeouts in two perfect innings of relief. Clayton has yet to give up either a hit or walk in 4.2 innings of relief this season. Brando Tessar and Stephen Nogosek each pitched scoreless innings of relief to close out the game.
Alex Fisher pitched four scoreless innings in relief for Portland. Earning the win for Oregon was Gold. Lockwood was saddled with the loss for Portland.
The Oregon bats were clicking on Tuesday as Chase, Grebeck, Tyler Baumgartner, J.B. Bryant and A.J. Balta all picked up two hits for Oregon. Despite playing in a noted pitcher’s park and having a team more known for its starting pitching, Chase was confident that the Ducks will be able to build on their impressive night at the plate.
“We’re the 2014 Ducks,” Chase said. “We’re going to be able to hit this year. PK Park better watch out for us.”
Baumgartner, Mitchell Tolman and Connor Hoffman all picked up steals for the Ducks, who are now 19 for 26 in stolen base attempts this season.
Coach Horton noted that Jordan Spencer is not expected to start Sunday’s game against Cal State Fullerton and indicated that Gold, Clayton and Trent Paddon are all in the mix to get the nod.
Oregon will host Cal State Fullerton at PK Park on Friday at 6 p.m in the first game of a three-game series.
Follow Chris Mosch on Twitter @chris_mosch