Emeralds Rally Again To Win Game 3 Against Spokane
June 16, 2023 - Northwest League (NWL)
Eugene Emeralds News Release
The Eugene Emeralds rallied for a 2nd straight night to defeat the Spokane Indians by a final score of 8-5. The Emeralds once again scored 7 unanswered runs late in the game to take a 2-1 series lead over the Spokane Indians.
Spokane jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the 2nd inning. Zach Kokoska led the inning off with a single and Juan Guerrero followed it up with a triple for the first run of the game. Ben Sems followed it up with an RBI-Single of his own. After Ronaiker Palma hit into a double play, Adael Amador hit a two-out triple. The next batter Benny hit an RBI-Single to score Amador and Spokane jumped out to a 3-0 lead.
In the 3rd inning Spokane would tack on another run to continue expanding on their lead. Yanquiel Fernandez led the inning off with a leadoff home run. It was his 17th of the season. It was his first game back this series after not being in the lineup for the previous couple of games. In the 4th Eugene would answer back and put up their first run of the game. Carter Howell led the inning of with a double and was able to advance to 3rd a couple of pitches later after a wild pitch got by the Indians catcher. Victor Bericoto followed it up by hitting a Sac-Fly RBI that scored Howell and Eugene trailed 4-1 after 4 innings.
In the 5th inning Spokane would answer back by scoring a run of their own. Benny Montgomery led the inning off with a single and a couple of batters later Yanquiel Fernandez struck again, this time delivering an RBI-Single that scored Montgomery. For the 2nd straight night Spokane had jumped out to a very big lead early in the ballgame. Brett Standlee came in for relief of starter Miguel Yajure and pitched 2 solid innings, allowed just the one earned run on two hits. He was able to work out of some tough spots.
In the 7th inning is when things really started to get going for Eugene. Aeverson Arteaga led the inning off with a double against reliever Luis Amoroso. The very next batter, Ghordy Santos, absolutely demolished a baseball out to right field to make the deficit just 2 runs. For Ghordy, it was his first hit of the ballgame and it came in a big way. He had a foul ball that missed being a home run by just a couple of feet and he popped out to the warning track in his first two at bats. He was finally able to connect cleanly with the baseball for his fourth home run of the year.
The very next batter, Max Wright, decided to get in on the fun and hit a solo home run to cut the lead to just one run. It was the first time this season the Emeralds have hit back-to-back home runs on the road. The next batter Edison Mora kept the hit parade going by doubling down the line. Grant McCray decided to make it 5 straight extra base hits as he doubled to the wall and tied up the ballgame at 5-5.
With one out, that brought up Carter Howell to the game in a tied ballgame. He ripped a ball to dead center field and it hit off the top of the wall. McCray scored easily on the play and Howell showed off his wheels by hustling into 3rd base for the go-ahead RBI-Triple. The fun wouldn't stop there for Eugene as Victor Bericoto hit another Sac-Fly RBI to score Howell and give Eugene the 7-5 lead. It was a 6-run 7th inning for the Ems that contained back-to-back home runs and a whopping 6 extra base hits. In the blink of an eye Eugene had rallied to take the lead late in the ballgame.
In the 9th inning Edison Mora led the inning off with a solo home run to right field to put the icing on the cake. Mora has now homered in consecutive nights and has been a key contributor to the Emeralds offense this week in Spokane. In the bottom of the 9th the Emeralds turned to Hunter Dula to close the game down. Adael Amador started the inning off with a single and followed it up with a stolen base. With nobody out and Dula facing Benny Montgomery who was in front of the count at 3-0, Dula made a fantastic play to buy Eugene an out.
Adael Amador thought that Dula had started his throwing motion and elected to take off to third base. Dula quickly stepped off the rubber and fired the ball to the third baseman Luis Toribio who was charging in to cover the bag. They got the tag on him just in time for the 1st out. Dula then followed it up by battling back in the count after being down 3-0 to Montgomery and struck him out looking for a very important out number two. Sterlin Thompson drew a four-pitch walk, and that brought up Yanquiel Fernandez who had already homered in the game. Dula was able to strike him out on just 3 pitches to slam the door shut and give the Emeralds the 8-5 win. It was Dula's fourth save of the season.
The Emeralds now move back to .500 on the year after rattling off two straight wins here in Spokane. The Emeralds have a 2-1 series lead over the Indians and moved up a full game in the Northwest League Standings. The Emeralds currently sit 3.5 games out of first place with just 6 games left in the 1st half. It's obviously going to take things falling their way if they want to win the 1st half title, but it's going to start with this team stringing together wins and they're doing just that here in Spokane. The Ems will be back in action tomorrow night with a 7:05 P.M first pitch.
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