Strahm, Spokane Serve Eugene A Series Opening Loss

The Eugene Emeralds (3-4, 19-26) dropped the first game of a four-game series against the Spokane Indians (4-3, 26-19) on Monday night by a final score of 9-5 at PK Park. 

Spokane started the scoring in the second inning with an RBI single from Jake Hoover, scoring David Garcia. One inning later, the Indians doubled their advantage thanks to an RBI double from Garcia, a fly ball to right-center field that landed just beyond the reach of a diving Fernando Kelli, scoring Kellen Strahm to make it 2-0.
The Indians' advantage was short-lived, though, thanks to a four-run third inning from the Emeralds offense. With runners on the corners and no outs, newcomer Pedro Martinez delivered his first-ever RBI at PK Park, bringing home Luis Diaz from third on a single and cut Spokane's lead to one. In the ensuing at-bat. Darius Hill delivered a seemingly routine comebacker to pitcher Joshua Javier, but the Spokane pitcher threw the ball away attempting to get the lead runner at third, allowing both Kelli and Martinez to score and give the Emeralds their first lead, 3-2. Jake Slaughter immediately followed with a double to right-center field, scoring Hill and extending Eugene's lead to 4-2.
However, just as Spokane's two-run lead didn't last long, Eugene's two-run advantage suffered the same fate. The Indians responded with three runs in the fourth, all stemming from errors and miscues. The scoring started when Eugene native Kellen Strahm bounced a would-be double play ball to short with the bases loaded, but after the runner at second was called out, the throw to first from Martinez sailed past Ems first baseman Jake Slaughter. After a throwing error from Ems pitcher Brandon Hughes on a pickoff play resulted in Strahm advancing to third, Blaine Crim brought home the third run of the inning on a double to the left field wall, making it 5-4.
Neither side threatened much for the following three innings until Spokane added some insurance in the eighth when an Alexander Ovalles two-RBI double and a Jake Hoover sacrifice fly stretched the visitor's lead to 8-4.
Jonah McReynolds added an RBI single in the top of the ninth to make it 9-4 and Darius Hill responded in the bottom half with a groundout that scored Martinez to cap the scoring for both sides on the evening.
Despite the loss, 18-year old Pedro Martinez shined in just his third game with the Emeralds and his first at PK Park. The Venezuelan infielder went 2-for-3 at the plate with a RBI, two runs, and two walks. On the mound, 2019 12th rounder Hunter Bigge put together another impressive performance out of the bullpen, firing 2.0 scoreless, hitless innings with two strikeouts and zero walks.
On the other side, former Sheldon High School three-sport star Kellen Strahm went 1-for-4 with two runs, two RBI, and one walk in his first game back in Eugene as a professional.
Eugene looks to bounce back tomorrow when they face off against Spokane at 7:05pm PST at PK Park. Tuesday is Wicked Night as well as Hoppy Tuesday.
You can find the full promotional schedule for the 2019 Eugene Emeralds season by visiting www.EmeraldsBaseball.com. 
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