Emeralds claim third championship in 5 seasons

After missing a chance to sweep the High-A West Championship Series on Thursday, the Eugene Emeralds took care of business on Friday.

A strong start from ace Ryan Murphy and a trio of long balls powered the Emeralds to a 5-0 blanking of the Spokane Indians in Game 4 at Avista Stadium. The title is the Emeralds' third in the past five seasons. It's the club's first campaign as a Giants affiliate.

Murphy, the 21st-ranked Giants prospect, delivered in the biggest moment for his squad as the right-hander scattered two hits and a pair of walks while whiffing seven over five frames. The 21-year-old never allowed a runner to reach scoring position while he was on the bump, and finished his outing with back-to-back punchouts of Daniel Montano and Daniel Cope. Murphy posted a 1.44 ERA and 0.67 WHIP with 48 strikeouts over six starts (31 1/3 innings) with the Emeralds to complete the regular season.

MLB Pipeline's No. 5 overall prospect Marco Luciano created some separation for Eugene in the fifth with a two-run tater to left-center that put the club ahead 3-0. That score held until the eighth when Ismael Munguia and 30th-ranked prospect Brett Auerbach launched back-to-back dingers to all but seal the victory for the Emeralds.

Broadcast view vantage point of the towering homer by Luciano. #GoEms #SFGiants https://t.co/Ixv53zxdnL pic.twitter.com/j6K4RABv9M

— Alex Stimson (@AlexStimson) September 25, 2021

Right-hander Taylor Rashi took the ball from Murphy and tossed a pair of hitless innings -- working around a walk while fanning three. Righty Austin Reich twirled a perfect frame in the eighth with two strikeouts before Chris Wright closed the shutout after yielding a two-out triple in the ninth.

Despite being the home team, Eugene played the game in Spokane's ballpark due to a scheduling conflict with the University of Oregon baseball team.