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Teng Tantalizes Everett As Ems Down Frogs For Fifth Straight Win 

The Taiwanese right-hander tallied a career-high 13 strikeouts as the Ems padded their slim lead atop the High-A West standings
September 10, 2021

It was another picture-perfect night at PK Park for the Eugene Emeralds (64-48) who won their fifth straight game, coming-from-behind to down the visiting Everett AquaSox (60-51) by a final of 4-1 in front of 2,200 fans on the season’s penultimate gameday. THE DETAILS: - Winning Pitcher: Nick Avila (5-7,

It was another picture-perfect night at PK Park for the Eugene Emeralds (64-48) who won their fifth straight game, coming-from-behind to down the visiting Everett AquaSox (60-51) by a final of 4-1 in front of 2,200 fans on the season’s penultimate gameday.

THE DETAILS:

  • Winning Pitcher: Nick Avila (5-7, 6.63 ERA): 1.0 IP | 0 H | 0 R | 0 BB | 2 K

  • Losing Pitcher: Adam Hill (1-3, 3.60 ERA): 7.0 IP | 5 H | 3 R | 1 ER | 2 BB | 7 K

  • Save: Wright (16)

  • HR(s): Eugene: Pomares (5) | Everett: N/A

HOW IT HAPPENED: Prominent Mariners prospect Neolvi Marte continued his strong start in High-A ball by scoring the game’s first run, doubling on a 2-2 count to lead off the second and then later scoring from third on a Matt Scheffler sacrifice fly to right field to put the AquaSox up first, 1-0.

Everett’s lead lasted only a matter of minutes, though, as the Emeralds leveled the score at 1-1 in the bottom of the second after Marco Luciano tripled to the left-center field gap and then came into score shortly thereafter on a wild pitch by Frogs right-hander Adam Hill.

It stayed a 1-1 game all the way until the seventh as both starting pitchers, Kai-Wei Teng for Eugene and Adam Hill for Everett, kept each opposing offense largely in check.

In that seventh, the Emeralds broke through to take their first lead of the game in unlikely (yet unsurprising) circumstances. Down to their final out in the inning and with nobody on base, Ricardo Genovés singles on a ground ball to left, and Franklin Labour followed by battling to work a walk on a full count.

One pitch later, Carter Aldrete grounded what likely should have been the inning-ending out to Everett third baseman Justin Lavey, but Lavey bobbled the ball and ultimately was unable to make a play at any base as Aldrete reached safely to load the bases for Ismael Munguia.

Munguia, one of the hottest hitters in all of Minor League Baseball (batting .488 in last 19 games played), looped a double the opposite way into right field to score both Genovés from third and Labour from second giving Eugene their first lead of the game, 3-1.

Jairo Pomares added some insurance for Eugene in the eighth, launching a Jarod Bayless offering over the right field fence for a solo blast, his fifth homer in twenty games as an Emerald.

The three-run cushion proved more than enough for the backend of the bullpen as Chris Wright notched his second save of the series and his league-leading sixteenth save of the season to wrap Eugene’s fifth straight win, a 4-1 victory over the AquaSox to clinch the series win.

With the Spokane Indians losing to the Vancouver Canadians again on Thursday night, the Emeralds gained ground on the second place Indians and now have a 1.5 game lead atop the High-A West standings. Meanwhile, Everett falls 3.5 games behind the Emeralds with eight games to go in the regular season.

PEAK PERFORMERS:

  • Kai-Wei Teng – RHP: The final line for Teng speaks for itself. A career-high thirteen strikeouts (previous career-high was eleven) over 6.0 innings of work for the big right-hander while allowing just three hits, two walks and one earned run.

  • Ismael Munguia – CF: Eugene’s leadoff man has been other-worldly over the last two months. Despite dealing with an injury during that time, Munguia has gone 41-for-84 (.488) over his last 19 games played with hits in 18 of 19 games and multiple hits in 16 of those games.

WHAT’S NEXT: The Eugene Emeralds wrap the regular season’s home schedule with a doubleheader on Friday against the AquaSox. First pitch for Game One on Friday is scheduled for 4:05pm PST while first pitch for Game Two is tentatively scheduled for approximately thirty minutes following the conclusion of Game One. Both games are scheduled to be seven innings.

You can catch all the action with the voice of the Emeralds 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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