NWL: Dust Devils lose heartbreaker to Eugene
Despite committing six errors, a four-run seventh inning was all the Eugene Emeralds needed Saturday night to beat the Tri-City Dust Devils 4-3 and pick up the series win at Gesa Stadium.
Evan Miller (1-1) walked the first two Eugene batters to come to the plate in the top of the seventh, and Kevonte Mitchell broke up Tri-City’s no-hit bid with a bunt to open space toward the left side of the infield. After a pitching change, Trent Giambrone drove in the Emeralds’ first run with a one-out single through the left side off of Jesse Scholtens, then D.J. Wilson delivered a hay-maker with a two-out, three-run double into the right-center gap to give Eugene (20-9) a 4-2 lead that would never be relinquished.
“We’re a little snake bit right now, I don’t know what else to say,” said Dust Devils manager Ben Fritz, whose team has lost nine out of its last 13 games. “You look at the scoreboard and we outplayed them in 8 1/2 innings, which usually will win you a ball game. So it’s frustrating.”
Buddy Reed quickly answered the Emeralds’ four-run frame by hitting a one-out infield single in front of Eugene third baseman Wladimir Galindo. Recognizing Reed’s speed, Galindo tried rushing a throw to first and sailed it toward the Dust Devils bullpen in right field. Eugene right fielder Michael Foster was delayed from fielding the ball long enough for Reed to come all the way around to score and make it a 4-3 game.
The Dust Devils (15-14) would go on to get runners on first and second with one out and then loaded the bases with two down in the seventh, but failed to push across the game-tying run.
“It’s hard to get frustrated when it’s runners in scoring position and two outs, I mean, those are clutch hits,” Fritz said. “You can’t expect them to do that every time. Has our two-out hitting been stellar? No, but I’m not going to get frustrated with the guys for not coming through super clutch.”
A night after putting up five runs in the opening frame, the Dust Devils again got off to a quick start when Kyle Overstreet laid down a squeeze bunt with runners at the corners and one out that Eugene pitcher Jesus Castillo couldn’t make a play on. A 6-4-3 double play got Castillo out of the inning before any additional damage could be done.
Boomer White and Taylor Kohlwey hit back-to-back one-out doubles in the bottom of the fourth to give the Dust Devils a 2-0 lead.
After giving up 15 runs over his last two starts, Will Headean returned to early season form for the Dust Devils by striking out seven and allowing just two base runners over five no-hit innings. Headean said his high pitch count, which was up around 80, prevented him from staying in the game.
“I feel like on the road trip I was pitching on my heels, being scared a little bit,” Headean said. “Tonight I just tried to be aggressive and go at them, I was just going to be in the zone and let what happens happen, and it went my way tonight.”
In the top of the sixth, Tri-City second baseman Nate Easley backhanded a ball and made a jumping throw to retire D.J. Wilson, Boomer White charged hard from third and made a strong throw to beat a bunting Robert Garcia, and shortstop Chris Baker cut off a ball in front of second and just got Yeiler Peguero at first to set down the Emeralds in order behind reliever Evan Miller.
“Usually you’ll see one highlight play here and there, but for me, those were three where, I keep pocket notes on highlight plays that I turn into the organization, all three were on there,” Fritz said. “It’s awesome to see. Again, we played winning baseball for 8 1/2 innings, and it’s frustrating it was that 1/2 inning that made us lose the ball game.”
The Emeralds now lead the Northwest League South by five games, while the Dust Devils fell back into a tie for first place in the North as the Vancouver Canadians topped the Boise Hawks 9-4 on Saturday. The Everett AquaSox fell 3-2 to the Hillsboro hops and are still a game back, and the Spokane Indians are 1 1/2 back after beating the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, 7-1.
The Dust Devils will conclude their five game series with the Emeralds at 7:15 p.m. Sunday. Joey Lucchesi (0-1, 3.00 ERA) is expected to make his third career start for the Dust Devils and will likely face Pedro Silverio (1-1, 6.23 ERA)
Emeralds 4, Dust Devils 3
Eugene ab | r | h | bi | Tri-City ab | r | h | bi | ||
Garcia lf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Easley 2b | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Peguero ss | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Reed cf | 4 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
Rose 1b | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | G.Young dh | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Galindo 3b | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Ovrstreet 1b | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Mitchell dh | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | Baker ss | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
Payne c | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | B.White 3b | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
Giambrone 2b | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Kohlwey lf | 5 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
M.Foster rf | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Asuncion rf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
D.Wilson cf | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3 | De La Cruz c | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Totals 31 | 4 | 3 | 4 | Totals 36 | 3 | 10 | 2 | ||
Eugene | 000 | 004 | 000 | — | 4 |
Tri-City | 100 | 101 | 000 | — | 3 |
E—Wilson (5), Foster (1), Rose (3), De Los Rios (1), Galindo 2 (5), Baker (3). DP—Eugene 2. LOB—Eugene 4, Tri-City 13. 2B—Wilson (3), White (5), Baker (4). SAC—Overstreet. SB—Reed (5). CS—Reed (1).
Eugene | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
J.Castillo | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
De Los Rios W, 3-4 | 2 1/3 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
Minacci H, 2 | 1 1/3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Cheeks S, 6 | 1 1/3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Tri-City | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
Headean | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 |
E.Miller H, 2 L, 1-1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
Scholtens BS, 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
Cressley | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Miller pitched to 3 batters in the 7th. WP—Headean. HBP—By Headean (Mitchell), by Castillo (Reed). Umpires—H, Codey Davis; F, Zachary Dodson. T—3:28. A—2,554.
Dustin Brennan: 509-582-1413, @Tweet_By_Dustin
This story was originally published July 17, 2016 at 12:43 AM with the headline "NWL: Dust Devils lose heartbreaker to Eugene."