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(541) 342-5367

Winning Streak Hits Seven As Ems Hold On Late

A baserunning blunder by the C’s in the ninth sees the Emeralds win again behind another Will Wilson homer and another dazzling outing from Kai-Wei Teng
(Gary Breedlove)
By Alex Stimson
June 23, 2021

Well, that wasn’t exactly the ideal way to continue a winning streak, but continue the winning streak does as the Eugene Emeralds (27-15) won their seventh game in a row on Tuesday night behind a 4-3 victory over the visiting Vancouver Canadians (24-19) at PK Park. THE DETAILS: - Winning

Well, that wasn’t exactly the ideal way to continue a winning streak, but continue the winning streak does as the Eugene Emeralds (27-15) won their seventh game in a row on Tuesday night behind a 4-3 victory over the visiting Vancouver Canadians (24-19) at PK Park.

THE DETAILS:

  • Winning Pitcher: Kai-Wei Teng (2-2, 3.82 ERA): 6.0 IP | 3 H | 0 R | 2 BB | 9 K

  • Losing Pitcher: Brian Rapp (0-1, 3.60 ERA): 5.0 IP | 6 H | 2 R | 2 ER | 2 BB | 4 K

  • Save: Chris Wright (4): 1.0 IP | 3 H | 2 R | 2 ER | 1 BB | 1 K

  • HR(s): Eugene: Will Wilson (9) | Vancouver: Luis De Los Santos (4)

HOW IT HAPPENED: With top prospect Patrick Bailey back in the lineup for the first time in over a week, the Emeralds aimed to keep things rolling on Tuesday night fresh off a six-game sweep of the Hillsboro Hops, just the second six-game sweep in the High-A West this season.

Bailey was welcomed back to the lineup by Emeralds starting pitcher Kai-Wei Teng and his ever-growing rolodex of pitches. After amassing ten strikeouts in just five innings pitched the last time out, Teng appeared to pick up right where he left off.

Teng tallied nine strikeouts over six innings of work on Tuesday, including a stretch that saw him retire thirteen straight batters from the first inning to the fifth.

With premier pitching like that, not much offense was needed from the Emeralds, but they did strike early to stake Teng to a quick 1-0 advantage in the second, starting when Sean Roby kicked off a two-out rally with a single the opposite way on an 0-2 count. Armani Smith followed in the ensuing at-bat and, after seeing the count go to 2-2, followed Roby’s lead with a hit the opposite way, this one a double that rattled off the short wall in right long enough for Roby to score from first and put the Emeralds in front first, 1-0.

Logan Wyatt continued his fine form of late by leading off the fourth with a double down the right field line, and one batter later he was brought home to score on a double from the reigning High-A West Player of the Week, Franklin Labour, to make it 2-0.

Teng gave way to right-hander Ryan Walker to start the seventh, but the former Washington State Cougar ran into trouble despite striking out two of the first three batters he faced, surrendering a one-out double to Ryan Gold before Eric Rivera blooped a soft, two-out single to center field that scored Gold and shrinked Eugene’s lead back down to one, 2-1.

The lead was back up to two a mere matter of minutes later, though, as Will Wilson stroked a solo shot to left field in the bottom of the seventh, his team-leading ninth homer of the season and his third straight game with a home run. For Wilson, seven of his nine homers this season have come at PK Park.

Things stayed rather copasetic for the Emeralds until the ninth when things got… interesting. And weird.

Closer Chris Wright entered to start the inning, looking for his fourth save in as many opportunities. Averaging more than two strikeouts per inning, Wright got the inning started with a strikeout of Tanner Morris, but Luis De Los Santos then followed by blasting a solo home run to center field, cutting Eugene’s lead to 4-2 but with the bases empty and one out on the board in the ninth. No matter, right? Well…

After Ryan Gold walked on five pitches, DJ Neal followed with a single to put a runner at second and the tying run at first. Eric Rivera followed by roping a liner to the right side, but excellent positioning by Emeralds first baseman Logan Wyatt allowed him to make a quick reaction and snag the liner for the second out. However, after gloving the line drive from Rivera, Wyatt pivoted and fired to second base aiming to pick off Ryan Gold and end the game. Wyatt’s throw sailed well wide of second, though, skipping into left field and allowing both base runners to advance ninety feet, thereby putting the tying run on second in the form of DJ Neal.

Rafael Lantigua stepped up and wasted no time, lining a triple down the right field line that scored – or so it seemed – both Gold and Neal to tie the game. Lantigua was almost out then almost awarded home all within the span of two seconds, as the throw to third was well in time and so was the tag, but the ball bounced out of Roby’s glove upon making the tag and jettisoned towards the Vancouver dugout, just barely hitting the netting as opposed to scooting down the dugout steps and allowing Lantigua to score.

The tag play on Lantigua all proved for not, though, as the Emeralds appealed with a throw to third on a hunch that one of the baserunners on Lantigua’s triple had in fact not touched the third base bag, and umpire Ray Patchen agreed with the appeal, ruling that one of the Vancouver base runners had not scored and was in fact out at third, thereby decreeing that a game which, at the time, was tied 4-4 was actually, in fact, over, ending in a 4-3 Emeralds victory.

PEAK PERFORMERS:

  • Kai-Wei Teng – RHP: Teng was exceptional for the second straight outing, never allowing a baserunner to even touch third base over his six innings of work. Over his last two starts, Teng has fired 11.0 IP with five hits, two earned runs, five walks and nineteen strikeouts.

  • Armani Smith – LF: After going just 1-for-11 over his first three games since getting promoted from Low-A San Jose, Smith has smoothly hit his stride having now tallied multi-hit games in three straight, including a 2-for-4 performance on Tuesday with an RBI and a run scored. Over those last three games, Smith is 7-for-12 with two doubles, a home run and three RBIs.

  • Will Wilson – SS: He might’ve only gone 1-for-5 but that ‘one’ was a big one, a no-doubter to left field for his third home run in three games.

WHAT’S NEXT: The Eugene Emeralds and Vancouver Canadians face off again on Wednesday night. First pitch between the Ems and C’s is scheduled for 7:05pm PST at PK Park.

You can listen live to all the action with the voice of the Emeralds Matt Dompe on the call via 95.3FM The Score, via MiLB.com or on the MiLB app, and you can also watch all the action live on MiLB.tv.

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

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