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Everett Ekes Out Win In Series Opener

Errors are the difference in Everett as Eugene leaves the tying run on third in the ninth
(Gary Breedlove)
July 28, 2021

The second place Eugene Emeralds (41-31) opened a seven-game road series in frustrating fashion on Tuesday, falling to the first place Everett AquaSox (48-23) by a final of 5-4 at Funko Field in Everett, Washington. THE DETAILS: - Winning Pitcher: Travis Kuhn (1-0, 5.40 ERA): 1.2 IP | 2 H

The second place Eugene Emeralds (41-31) opened a seven-game road series in frustrating fashion on Tuesday, falling to the first place Everett AquaSox (48-23) by a final of 5-4 at Funko Field in Everett, Washington.

THE DETAILS:

  • Winning Pitcher: Travis Kuhn (1-0, 5.40 ERA): 1.2 IP | 2 H | 1 R | 1 ER | 0 BB | 2 K

  • Losing Pitcher: Tyler Schimpf (1-1, 6.67 ERA): 2.0 IP | 1 H | 1 R | 1 ER | 0 BB | 3 K

  • Save: Ben Onysko (1)

  • HR(s): Eugene: Auerbach (7) | Everett: Anchia (7)

HOW IT HAPPENED: Entering the day 6.5 games back of Everett in the High-A West standings, Eugene aimed to close the gap over a seven-game set that serves as the second and final time that the Emeralds will journey to Everett in the regular season (Note: The AquaSox will play two more series in Eugene during the regular season).

Southpaw Jake Dahlberg, making his debut in the Giants system after recently being signed from the Chicago Dogs of the American Association, showcased some stellar stuff right from the jump by netting five strikeouts through the game’s first two innings, but Everett’s potent offense took a 1-0 lead in the third inning.

The ninth hitter in the AquaSox lineup, Cody Grosse, led off the third by singling sharply on the first pitch he saw, and after stealing second base between a pair of Dahlberg strikeouts, Cade Marlowe doubled him home on a slicing liner into the left field corner that scored Grosse to put Everett in front first, 1-0.

That kicked off a seesaw spree of innings that saw both sides continually trade runs but neither side took more than a one-run lead.

Eugene tied it up in the fourth thanks to three straight hits – a double by Ricardo Genovés, a single by Franklin Labour, and a single by Heath Quinn – with the last of the three hits scoring Genovés from third to tie the game at 1-1.

Everett responded in the bottom half of the inning when Jake Anchia, the reigning High-A West Player of the Week, belted a solo homer to lead off the inning and put the Frogs back in front, 2-1.

The pendulum swung back Eugene’s way in the fifth when Tyler Flores led off the inning by doubling to center, and after an Ismael Munguia groundout advanced Flores to third, Brett Auerbach brought him home with a single to left that once again tied the game, this time at 2-2. Eugene wasn’t done, though, as they took their first lead of the game two batters later when Sean Roby laced a double to center on a 1-2 count to bring Auerbach all the way around from first and put Eugene in front, 3-2.

As pendulums do, though, the momentum swung back to Everett’s side in the bottom of the inning, however Eugene’s defense played a part in doing so. Leadoff man Victor Labrada led off the inning with a single to center field, and soon thereafter he advanced all the way to third on a stolen base attempt due to an errant throw from Ricardo Genovés that ricocheted sharply off Labrada and into no man’s land between third and second, thereby allowing Labrada to move up another ninety feet. One batter later, Cade Marlowe made the Emeralds pay with a sacrifice fly to center that scored Labrada from third and tied the game at 3-3.

The Emeralds offense was held in check in the sixth while the AquaSox offense struck for the fourth consecutive inning to retake the lead, and again a throwing error from the Emeralds backstop proved costly.

Conner Hoover led off the frame by working a walk despite falling behind 0-2 to start the at-bat, and Hoover quickly took off for second on a stolen base attempt in the ensuing at-bat. It was déjà vu all over again for the Emeralds as a tailing throw from Genovés kicked away from the second base bag – this time to the first base side – and allowed the runner in Hoover to advance to third.

Two batters later, after a pop out into shallow center field, Cody Grosse lifted the ball to deep right field allowing Hoover to score on another Everett sac fly, and the AquaSox took a 4-3 lead into the seventh.

Eugene responded in that seventh inning thanks to the big bat from Brett Auerbach. The do-it-all utility man started last week’s series against Hillsboro with homers in each of the first three games of the series, so it was no surprise when he teed off with a solo shot in the seventh to tie it, mashing his seventh homer in just nineteen games as an Emerald and tying the game at 4-4.

And yet, the Everett offense was heard from for the fifth straight inning in the bottom half of the seventh. Kaden Polcovich was plunked by a 2-0 offering from Tyler Schimpf to lead off the inning, and Cade Marlowe brought him home in the very next at-bat by doubling on a liner to right field that scored the speedy Polcovich and put the AquaSox back in front (again), 5-4.

It stayed 5-4 until the ninth when the Emeralds looked poised to, at worse, tie the game and, at best, bust the game open. Unfortunately for Eugene, though, neither outcome came to fruition.

With the top of the order due up for the Emeralds in the top of the ninth, leadoff man Ismael Munguia was plunked on the hand by a pitch while attempting to work a drag bunt, and while play halted for a moment as Munguia appeared to be in considerable pain, the speedy table-setter was able to continue and stepped to first base representing the tying run in the ballgame.

Brett Auerbach followed in the next at-bat by singling sharply through the 5-6 hole to put the tying run in Munguia in scoring position and the winning run in Auerbach at first with Eugene’s 3-4-5 hitters due up. Tyler Fitzgerald struck out for the fourth time of the game for the first out of the ninth, but a passed ball by AquaSox catcher Jake Anchia on strike three allowed both Munguia and Auerbach to advance ninety feet, thereby putting the tying run on third and the winning run on second.

However, Sean Robby followed by striking out on three pitches and Ricardo Genovés struck out for the final out of the game to see Eugene’s comeback effort fall by the wayside.

Tuesday night’s game marked the seventh consecutive one-run game that the Emeralds have played in (3-4 during stretch).

With Auerbach’s solo homer in the seventh, Eugene extended their homer streak to fifteen games.

Tuesday marked just the fourth time this season that the bullpen earned a loss, but three of those losses have come in the month of July. Despite that, Eugene’s ‘pen still has the fewest losses in all of Minor League Baseball.

PEAK PERFORMERS:

  • Brett Auerbach – 2B: Auerbach did much of the heavy lifting for the Emeralds on Tuesday, going 3-for-5 with the solo homer, two RBIs and two runs scored.

  • Heath Quinn – LF: Aside from Auerbach, Quinn tallied the only other multi-hit game by an Emerald on Tuesday by going 2-for-4 with an RBI.

  • Jake Dahlberg – LHP: While his debut lasted only 4.0 innings, it sure was one to remember. The southpaw scattered nine strikeouts over his four innings of work while allowing four hits, two earned runs and one walk.

WHAT’S NEXT: The Eugene Emeralds and Everett AquaSox meet again for a double-header on Wednesday that starts at 5:05pm PST. Both games are slated to be seven innings.

You can catch all the action on Wednesday with Alex Stimson on the call via 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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