Going into a two-game home series against the third place Boise Hawks, the Eugene Emeralds hoped to break their two-game losing streak. Instead, the Emeralds were handed two losses and slid into a tie for second in the division.
Tuesday’s monstrosity of a game lasted 20 innings over a span of six hours, saw the lead change four times. The Emeralds eventually fell 5-7.
Despite starting pitcher Jesus Camargo throwing a no-hitter through three innings, the Emeralds still found themselves trailing the Hawks by one. The deficit came courtesy of a pair of errors in the first inning, and allowed Hawks center fielder Steven Linkous to get the Hawks on the board.
Emeralds third baseman Austin Filiere managed to tie the game up in the bottom of the fourth, crushing a line drive to left field for a double and allowing Miguel Amaya to score. Then in the sixth, first baseman Gustavo Polanco sent Amaya home again with a ground ball. It was starting to look like the Ems had their rhythm back.
However, the Hawks knotted the game up again in the seventh. First baseman Sean Bouchard drove in Tyler Nevin with a line drive to center field. This run would eventually send the game to extra innings, and neither team was able to break the stalemate until the 11th inning.
Steven Linkous scored the go-ahead run for the Hawks in the 11th, reaching the plate on a short fly to right field from Matt McLaughlin. The Ems tied it up, however, with Edgar Rondon scoring on a line drive to left field from Jose Gonzalez.
The Ems brought in catcher Tyler Payne to pitch, and he dealt four scoreless innings before being replaced by Junior Marte. Marte went on to allow four runs in the 20th inning, two of which came on an inside-the-park home run from J.B. Moss. The Emeralds tried to mount a rally in the bottom of the inning, and managed to score two before being closed out by the Hawks.
Wednesday’s game was tame by comparison, and once again the Hawks dominated from the opening pitch to go on to win 4-2.
With two runners on, Danny Edgeworth hit a hard ground ball to center field, scoring two runs. The Hawks added two more runs in the third, with one coming on a throwing error by Ems third baseman Jhonny Bethencourt. The other runs came on a wild pitch from starter Bailey Clark.
The Ems finally managed to get on the board in the fourth, when Edger Rondon sent Austin Filiere home with a ripped line drive to center field. The team wasn’t able to bring anymore runners in, however, and the game fell into a rut for both teams. Filiere gave the Ems a spark of home in the eighth with a pounded home run over the left field wall, his first on the season. The Hawks shut down those rally hopes with efficient pitching from closer Moises Ceja.
The loss dropped the Ems into a tie for second in the division.
The Emeralds will try to rebound and break their losing streak when they face the Tri-City Dust Devils on July 6, at 7:05 p.m.
Follow Aaron Alter on Twitter @aaronalter95
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