Big Night For Reynolds Not Enough

A three RBI night for Luke Reynolds was not enough offense for the Eugene Emeralds, as the Spokane Indians scored a pair of runs late and took game one of the five game series 5-3 in front of 2,577 at PK Park.

It started out well for the Ems (3-6, 17-30) when Levi Jordan singled with one out in the first. Luke Reynolds then took a 1-1 pitch over the wall in right center for his first home run of his career, making it a 2-0 game.
Eugene added another run in the fifth when Grant Fennell singled to lead off the inning before Reyonlds drove him in one batter later with a double to make it 3-0.
Paul Richan worked well enough to keep the Indians (6-3, 22-25) off the board through his three innings of work, though he did strand a pair of runners in the first and third. Ems pitching continued to keep the Indians off the board and limited them to just two hits through five innings.
Yan De La Cruz came in for Richan in the fourth, and pitched a relatively easy fourth and fifth innings, but ran into trouble in the sixth when Curtis Terry led off the inning with his 13^th homer of the year.
De La Cruz then allowed three straight singles; the final one scoring a pair after Troy Dixon hit one to left where Nelson Velazquez had trouble fielding the ball to make it a 3-3 game.
Casey Ryan replaced De La Cruz and got out of the inning with a groundout, hit by pitch, and a pair of strikeouts. The final line on De La Cruz was two plus innings, four hits, three runs, two earned, one walk, and a pair of strikeouts.
The Ems came right back, with Gustavo Polanco singling to lead off the bottom of the sixth. A ground out moved Polanco to second and a wild pitch moved him to third, setting up the go ahead run.
After a Luis Vazquez ground out, Fernando Kelli worked a 2-2 count before swinging at a ball in the dirt. The ball scooted past catcher Isaias Quiroz and Polanco scored with ease, giving the Ems a 4-3 lead late and Kelli safe at first.
It stayed that way until the eighth when Ryan got a strikeout to start the inning, but he walked two straight batters, causing Eugene Manager Steve Lerud to go to his bullpen and summon Riley McCauley. McCauley could not find the strike zone either; however, walking Quiroz and loading the bases allowing Tyler Depreta-Johnson to hit a sac fly and tie the game once more.
McCauley got out of the inning, and was replaced by Mitch Stophel (0-1) in the ninth, the fifth pitcher used by the Emeralds. Stophel ran into trouble quickly, walking Hasaun Viera to lead off the inning before allowing back-to-back singles, scoring Viera and giving the Indians a final lead of 5-4.
Game 2 takes place tomorrow as Jeff Passantino takes the hill for the Ems while the Indians counter with Ryan Dease. It's also $3 Thursday and Old School Hip Hop Night. Check out $3 tickets, $3 drinks, and $3 parking night of the game. Get your tickets now at emeraldsbaseball.com