Emeralds One-Hit TC Behind Kilian’s Near-Perfect Performance
Can we rewind and relive that all over again? Because, wow, that was impressive. Caleb Kilian was near-perfect on Saturday night, stymieing the Tri City Dust Devils (5-12) through 6.2 innings before allowing the first Dust Devils base runner of the game as he, Ryan Walker and RJ Dabovich combined
Can we rewind and relive that all over again? Because, wow, that was impressive.
Caleb Kilian was near-perfect on Saturday night, stymieing the Tri City Dust Devils (5-12) through 6.2 innings before allowing the first Dust Devils base runner of the game as he, Ryan Walker and RJ Dabovich combined to one-hit TC and earn a 1-0 win for the Eugene Emeralds (11-6) at Gesa Stadium.
HOW IT HAPPENED: What else is there to say? Caleb Kilian was absolutely exceptional on the mound.
But, before he even took the mound, the 2019 8th rounder out of Texas Tech was already staked to a lead as the Emeralds jumped out to a 1-0 advantage in the first after Will Wilson drew a one-out walk, advanced to second on a groundout by Logan Wyatt, then was brought home on an RBI single by Franklin Labour, a nice piece of hitting from the Emeralds right fielder that saw him hit away from the shift and single into right field to plate Wilson and put the Ems in front, 1-0.
Turns out, the High-A West strikeout leader had all the run support he would need as he strolled to the mound to start the bottom of the first.
Kilian spent seven inning meticulously mixing pitches, locations, and velocities as he frustrated and mystified Dust Devil batters from the jump.
The highlight of his sublime pitching performance was a stretch stemming from the second inning to the fourth that saw him strike out six straight batters, utilizing every weapon in his deep arsenal while also using tempo to his advantage.
Perhaps the most impressive part of his performance was that there were no smoke nor mirrors involved. When Kilian wasn’t striking out Dust Devil batters, he was getting routine, soft outs through the first six innings.
In the seventh, the slightest signs of potential fatigue started to rear its head as the first truly hard-hit ball of the day came off the bat of TC leadoff man Livian Soto, but excellent defensive positioning by Tyler Fitzgerald saw the one-hop liner go right to the sure-handed Fitzgerald who quickly and easily fired to first for the inning’s first out.
Two batters later, though, the perfect game and no-hitter was broken up as Brendon Davis doubled down the left field line, just sneaking a liner inside the third base bag and past Emeralds third baseman Carter Aldrete who made a maximum effort dive attempting to knock it down, but Kilian went on to retire the next batter and cap what is unquestionably the best outing of his promising pro career to date.
In the eighth, the wily Ryan Walker entered to relieve Kilian and, with his father in the stands, proceeded to retire three-of-four batters faced while striking out the final two TC batters of the inning.
In the ninth, RJ Dabovich picked up his first save of the season by flat-out overpowering the Dust Devils, setting them down in order and notching a pair of K’s in the process to seal the win in what was a memorable pitching performance across the board.
Lost in all of the excitement of Saturday night’s performance was that losses by both Everett and Vancouver mean that there’s now a three-way tie for first in the High-A West between the Emeralds, AquaSox and Canadians.
PEAK PERFORMERS:
- Caleb Kilian – RHP: I mean, duh, right? Kilian entered the day leading the league in strikeouts (22) and WHIP (0.61) while his 1.84 ERA ranked fourth and his .154 opponent’s batting average ranked third. Safe to say that he improved all of those numbers. His final line looked like this: 7.0 IP, one hit, no runs, no walks, ten strikeouts. The seven innings and ten strikeouts are both career-highs. Oh, by the way, Kilian notched his league-leading third win of the season as well.
WHAT’S NEXT: Eugene will wrap the series against Tri-City Dust Devils on Sunday afternoon at 1:30pm PST at Gesa Stadium in Pasco, WA. You can listen live to all the action on 95.3FM The Score, via MiLB.com or on the MiLB app.
The Emeralds return home the following week when they will start a six-game series against the Spokane Indians on May 25. Information regarding tickets to Emeralds home games is available at www.EmeraldsBaseball.com or by calling (541) 342-5367.
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