Down on the Cubs Farm: Adbert Alzolay promoted, Emeralds back at .500, more

Down on the Cubs Farm: Adbert Alzolay promoted, Emeralds back at .500, more


by - Senior Writer -

It was a quiet night on the farm as the only team in action was the Eugene Emeralds. Despite that, the biggest news of the night came out of Des Moines as the Chicago Cubs have decided to call up Adbert Alzolay after all as he will be making his big-league debut Thursday out of the pen. Back to the diamond, as the Emeralds continue to figure things out the first week of the season getting back to .500 with a 3-1 win.

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EUGENE EMERALDS 3 – Vancouver Canadians 1: Looking for their first series win of 2019, the Emeralds turned to Eduarniel Nunez for the start as he aimed for win NO.1. This being Nunez’s second appearance of the season, his first start, he was able to do something no other starter has done this season. That is pick up a win as he tossed five solid innings of one earned run giving up only four hits with zero walks and four strikeouts before turning things over to the bullpen to finish it off.

With the Emeralds struggling to find consistent offense, any early run support is a good thing which is what happened in the second inning. Yonathan Perlaza got the inning started with a sharp single to second ahead of two straight groundouts that moved him into scoring position. With two down and looking for a clutch hit with RISP, Reivaj Garcia delivered with a line drive single to center for the 1-0 Eugene lead.

That score stood up until the top of the fifth inning when Eugene looked to pad their lead. It was Garcia continuing a good day at the plate with his second single in as many at-bats to lead things off. Once again, that single was followed by two straight outs as Garcia was standing on second hoping for another two-out hit. Although not a hit, the Emeralds did manage to bring Garcia home as Luis Vazquez was able to reach on a fielding error with the Emeralds now on top 2-0.

Vancouver was looking to answer in the bottom of the fifth as that error was a backbreaker in the top half of the inning. Dominic Abbadessa continues to be a little spark plug for the Canadians as he picked up a one-out single to put a man on. Abbadessa then used his speed to set the offense up, stealing both second and third base to come within 90 feet of scoring. Those steals proved to be the key to the inning as Adrian Ramos grounded out to Vazquez, but Abbadessa was able to come home making it a 2-1 game with the bullpen about to take over.

First, it was Maikel Aguiar entering the game in the sixth as he was tasked with keeping the Emeralds in front. Aguiar did just that, yielding only a pair of hits in two innings of work to go with 3K as the Emeralds still led 2-1 heading to the eighth. Now, in the ninth and still looking for insurance runs, Eugene managed to deliver the knockout punch as they pushed across a big run in their half of an inning.

Perlaza continues to see the ball well reaching base with another single in the ninth. Perlaza used his legs to steal second base, but after a strikeout from Danny Zardon, the Emeralds once again had two outs and needed a clutch hit. For the second time in the game, Eugene delivered in that situation as Fernando Kelli ripped a line drive to right for a double extending the Emeralds lead to 3-1. That would be all Eugene would need as Enrique De Los Rios worked around a one-out single in the ninth to earn the two-inning save for his first of the season as the Emeralds hold on 3-1.

Perlaza continues to crush the baseball as he picked up three hits on the night. Garcia added a pair of hits to go with his RBI, joining catcher Caleb Knight with a two-hit game. Kelli added the final hit for Eugene in the ninth which proved to be a big one with a double.

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