Horrible Fifth Kills The Ems On A Murky Night In PK
Posted on 19. Jun, 2011 at 12:14 am by Braga in Eugene Emeralds
After a come from behind win last night in its opener, the Eugene Emeralds dug a hole too deep to climb out of in the second game of the series tonight on a rainy night at PK Park.
The 10-2 loss is the first of the season for Eugene, which was in the midst of a pitcher’s duel until the fifth inning, when everything unraveled and they gave up eight runs to the opportunistic Hawks.
“That big inning nothing seemed to go our way,” Manager Pat Murphy said. “Other than that, we played a pretty good ball game.”
Former McNeese St. defensive back, shortstop Jace Peterson, steps up in the bottom of the sixth inning, trying to get back some of the ten run deficit. Photo by Me
Eugene only gave up two more runs the rest of the game, but the fifth — in which the Ems went through three pitchers, gave up five hits, walked two, and had a throwing error by third baseman Clint Moore on a fielder’s choice — created a deficit too large to overcome.
The play by Moore was on a bunt with no outs and runners on first and second. He ran in on the ball, fielded it and wheeled around to get the force at third, but the throw was a little off and it skipped into left field and allowed both runners on base to score.
“It was ill-advised,” Murphy said. “It would have been a bang-bang type of play if (the throw) had been a strike.”
Second Baseman, and top ten pick in this year's draft, Cory Spangenberg, gets picked off early in the game. Photo by me
Starting pitcher Matt Andriese went  four innings, gave up three earned runs on three hits, walked two and struck out five before he was pulled in the fifth, when the first three hitters he faced reached base, before Moore’s error.
Murphy says he has all of his starting pitchers on a pitch count of 65 in their first outings of the season and, while Andriese did begin to struggle as the fifth went on, he was approaching his limit and it was time for him to come out.
At Media day this week Murphy emphasized that winning at the Class A level isn’t as important as developing the players to advance to the next levels. Keeping track of pitch counts is important for that.
He said 65 is the limit for first outings, 75 for the second, and 85 for the third.
Eugene tried to rally in the bottom of the ninth with consecutive doubles by Jace Peterson and Cory Spangenberg, the latter of which produced Spangenberg’s first professional RBI. He later scored on a fielder’s choice ground out by Matthew Colantonio, but Travis Whitmore struck out to end the game.
Despite rainy conditions, General Manager Allan Benavides said they likely will never cancel a game due to rain. He says the life of a ball is about five and a half pitches, so they don't mind replacing them often. Photo by me
Video by SKI with my Camera. It goes HD if your puny browser can handle it.
Emeralds General Manager Allan Benavides greets a little leaguer before an event. Photo by me
Chalupa run, son! Photo by me
Legendary. Photo by me
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3D
20. Jun, 2011
@Mick (if he’s reading…): “He said 65 is the limit for first outings, 75 for the second, and 85 for the third.”
How many times have we talked about damn pitch counts!!!!!???? Ah that’s frustrating….
Braga
20. Jun, 2011
In the Father’s Day game Murphy had a pitcher named Herrera have a nono through five and he pulled him because of the pitch count.