The Tri-Cities haven’t been friendly to the Eugene Emeralds. The Dust Devils have won two of the first three games of the five-game series, winning 6-3 Friday night, the third loss in four days for the Ems.
Eugene jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the first inning when Michael Bass doubled with one out and later scored on Trae Santos’ single. The score would stay 1-0 until the third when the home team’s offense exploded for four runs.
With runners on the corners and one out, Dust Devils third baseman Patrick Hutcheson laid down a suicide squeeze that scored Wilson Soriano from third, but also resulted in the second out of the inning. Eugene starter Tayron Guerrero threw a wild pitch and issued a walk to put runners back on the corners with two outs. Michael Tauchman doubled home both runners, giving the Dust Devils a 3-1 advantage. But the scoring wouldn’t stop there. The next batter was Michael Benjamin; his single scored Tauchman — the fourth run of the inning — putting Tri-City up 4-1.
Eugene would answer in the fifth to cut the deficit to 4-3. Malquiel Brito led off the inning with a double and was followed by an Anthony Torres walk. With two on and one out, Edwin Moreno singled to right, scoring Brito from second and advancing Torres to third. Two batters later, Bass grounded out to first base, scoring Torres and advancing Moreno to third after reaching second on a wild pitch. Santos struck out to end the inning, stranding Moreno 90 feet away from home.
Tauchman came through again for the Dust Devils in the bottom of the fifth. With two outs, the Tri-City left fielder hit a sac fly to left, deep enough to score Hutcheson from third, increasing the Devils’ lead to 5-3.
The Emeralds had a chance to bounce back in the seventh when Ronnie Richardson reached second with two outs, but there would be no two-out rally.
The bottom of the inning was rocky for the Ems. Tauhcman led off with a single and would advance to second on a passed ball, then trot to third on a balk by Vladimir De La Cruz. Benjamin would double to center, scoring Tauchman and increasing Eugene’s deficit to 6-3.
The Ems had a chance to rally in the ninth with two on and one out, but Wynton Bernard and Richardson were ousted to end the game.
Guerrero (1-3) lasted less than three innings, surrendering four runs on four hits while striking out four batters and walking one.
Dust Devils starter Johendi Jiminian (2-2) tossed six innings, scattering three runs on five hits, fanning three and walking two along the way. Troy Neiman and Trent Daniel were flawless over the final three innings, allowing just one hit.
The series will continue Saturday at 7:15 p.m. and wrap up Sunday, marking the last games before the All-Star break.