EUGENE – A couple of early homers staked the Tri-City Dust Devils (13-9 2H, 43-45) to a long-held lead Friday night, but the homestanding Eugene Emeralds (17-4 2H, 49-38) threw a pair of five-run haymakers late to take down the visitors 12-5 in the opener of a three-game series at PK Park.
After two Tri-City errors sandwiching a two-out double gave Eugene a 2-0 lead in the 1st inning, the Dust Devils bounced back in the top of the 2nd. 3B Cole Fontenelle singled to lead off the frame, getting on in front of RF Randy De Jesus. The big righty drove a ball deep and out to left field for a two-run home run, with his career-high 13th home run of the season tying the game at 2-2. DH Matt Coutney took Emeralds starter Dylan Carmouche deep to right-center an inning later, pushing Tri-City to a 3-2 lead. Chris Cortez rebounded from a 1st inning error to allow only two more baserunners in his five innings of work, striking out six and leaving with the lead.
Dust Devils reliever Max Gieg (2-2) took on the bottom of the 6th, where Eugene rudely welcomed him to town by putting up five runs on three hits, capped by a three-run home run that gave the Ems a 7-3 advantage. Tri-City got a run back in the 7th on an RBI single by 1B Ryan Nicholson, getting within three at 7-4. Bridger Holmes would suffer the same fate in the bottom of the 7th, though, giving up five runs on three hits that concluded with a three-run longball for a 12-4 Eugene lead. An RBI single in the 9th by 2B Adrian Placencia gave the visitors one more run to close out the night. Emeralds hurler Tyler Vogel (6-1) got the win, covering 1.2 innings to end up the pitcher of record…