Eugene Drops Second Straight By Narrow Margin

The Eugene Emeralds (40-30) were dealt their second straight one-run loss against the Hillsboro Hops (31-38) on Saturday evening, falling by a final of 3-2 at PK Park.

THE DETAILS:

• Winning Pitcher: Drey Jameson (1-4, 4.08 ERA): 6.0 IP | 4 H | 1 R | 1 ER | 2 BB | 11 K

• Losing Pitcher: Aaron Phillips (3-6, 6.57 ERA): 4.1 IP | 5 H | 3 R | 2 ER | 3 BB | 3 K

• Save: Justin Lewis (1)

• HR(s): Eugene: Genovés (4) | Hillsboro: N/A

HOW IT HAPPENED: Eugene opened the scoring for the second straight day on Saturday, and they did so thanks to one man and one man alone: Ricardo Genovés.

The Venezuelan backstop led off the bottom of the second with a solo homer the opposite way, a towering shot that rocketed off his bat at a forty-two-degree angle to give Genovés his fourth homer in the last eight games while giving the Emeralds a 1-0 lead.

It stayed 1-0 in favor of Eugene until the fourth when Hillsboro tied it up behind a Cam Coursey double to the right field corner that scored Andy Yerzy who had led off the inning with a single and a stolen base, and one inning later the Hops took their first lead of the game.

With Roman Ruiz on third and Axel Andueza on first, Tristin English snuck a seeing-eye single through the left side to score Ruiz and put the Hops in front for the first time, 2-1. It became 3-1 moments later due to a self-inflicted wound by the Emeralds defense. John Russell entered out of the bullpen aiming to induce the inning-ending double play, and he seemingly did exactly that after getting a room service ground ball to Aldrete at second. However, Ems shortstop Nolan Dempsey air-mailed the throw to first after getting the out at second, allowing the runner from second, Andueza, to score to make it 3-1.

Eugene got one back in the eighth, but they exited the inning perhaps feeling as if more offensive damage should have been done.

Ismael Munguia led off the frame by yanking a double down the right field line that put a charge back in to the PK Park crowd while putting the potential tying run at the plate. Tyler Fitzgerald came up having struck out in each of his first three at-bats, but after falling into an 0-2 hole, Fitzgerald laced a single up the middle to score Munguia and cut the deficit to one with Fitzgerald also advancing to second base on the throw home.

However, the Emeralds went quietly and feebly the rest of the way in the eighth. Despite having the tying run on second with no outs, the next three batters – Sean Roby, Ricardo Genovés, and Franklin Labour – each struck out to strand Fitzgerald on the bases and send the game to the ninth with the Emeralds trailing 3-2.

In the ninth, the Emeralds offense went down in order to wrap another one-run game, the fifth consecutive one-run game to open up the six-game set between the Emeralds and Hops.

Hillsboro starter and former first rounder Drey Jameson earned his first pro win on Saturday night after scattering eleven strikeouts over 6.0 strong innings. Jameson became the fourth Hillsboro starter in five games so far this series to fire at least 6.0 innings of work. By contrast, Eugene has only gotten 6.0 innings out of a starting pitcher four times all season long.

PEAK PERFORMERS:

• Ismael Munguia – CF: The Nicaraguan finished with the only multi-hit game from an Emerald on Saturday night, going 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored.

• The Bullpen: It’s been an up-and-down last two weeks for a bullpen that’s been among one of the best in the Minor Leagues, but it was another fine night from the Emeralds ‘pen on Saturday as John Russell and Ryan Walker combined for 4.2 scoreless innings with five strikeouts while allowing just four hits and no walks.

WHAT’S NEXT: The Eugene Emeralds and Hillsboro Hops wrap their six-game series at PK Park on Sunday evening. First pitch on Saturday between the Emeralds and Hops is slated for 5:05pm PST.

You can catch all the action on Friday with Matt Dompe on the call via MiLB.tv, 95.3FM The Score, MiLB.com or on the MiLB app.

Tickets to Emeralds home games are available at www.EmeraldsBaseball.com or by calling (541) 342-5367.

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