Eugene hits two homers in tenth place and gives Spokane Indians their third straight loss to start the season
There is an old baseball saying that there are two types of pitchers: those who are injured and those who do not know they are injured.
David Hill knows this all too well.
The 2015 fourth round election of the Colorado Rockies at the University of San Diego had its problems staying in the line-up as a professional. He played eight games for Boise in the short season the year he was drafted, and started 14 games for Low-A Asheville in 2016 before missing the rest of that season due to injury.
He missed all of 2017 and made seven starts for High-A Lancaster in 2018 before closing again. He didn’t play in 2019 – and no one played in 2020.
Hill didn’t go long on Thursday night at Avista Stadium, but conquering the hill in the first place was a personal victory.
More than three and a half hours after Hill threw his final pitch, the Eugene Emeralds rallied for four runs in the tenth inning, sending the Indians to their third straight loss to start the season, an 8-4 decision.
Logan Wyatt, who was in the lead in 10th place, snatched a lone right-back, Moises Ceja, in second place to take down free runner Hunter Bishop. Diego Rincones put a hit in the left center for a three-fold lead into the net, and Ismael Mungia followed with a high fly that helped the breeze over the wall.
Hill’s first inning couldn’t have gone more smoothly, with a strikeout and a pair of soft contact groundouts.
Spokane stepped onto the board in the lower half. Eddy Diaz left and stole second place, then scored a one-off single from Aaron Schunk. With two losses, Brenton Doyle singled and Michael Toglia left. Both advanced in a wild field but were stranded when Johnny Cresto was out.
The second didn’t go so well for Hill, Righty, 26. Wyatt started with a single, finished second and third on wild fields and met Rincones’ RBI double.
After a single from Mungia, manager Scott picked up Little Hill. His comeback lasted four outs and 32 pitches, 22 for strikes.
Lefty Nick Bush stepped in and took Mungia down to end the inning without further damage.
The Indians gathered in the second. Kyle Datres sat down through the right side, lagging behind, and stole the second. Daniel Cope left and Diaz followed with an RBI single. Hunter Stovall came in with the infield drawn in and bounced one over short to make two more runs for a 4-1 lead.
There was more traffic on the bases in the third as the Indians trailed first and third, but Kyle Datres jumped into a 6-4-3 double to end the rally.
With two losses in the sixth, Sean Roby of the Ems tried to turn a line-drive single into a double, but Nico Decolati stopped him from hitting the wall and fired a punch at cut-off man Aaron Schunk, who turned him over in twos to nail Roby and end the inning.
It stayed that way until the eighth. Bishop got away with a double for the Ems, then Eugene scratched one in the ninth to tie it.
Spokane reliever Nick Bush went scoreless on two hits and a walk with a 3⅔ strikeout.
Riley Pint, the Rockies’ first pick of 2016 to battle arm injuries, received two so-called strikeouts on sliders in a perfect inning of relief in the seventh game.