The Vancouver Canadians break out the Gatorade to celebrate their first walk-off victory of the season.
The Vancouver Canadians celebrated their first walk-off of 2017 with a 12-inning victory over the Eugene Emeralds at Nat Bailey Stadium Thursday night. Norberto Obeso scampered home with the winning run from third after a wild pitch by Andin Diaz and that gave the C’s a 2-1 win over the defending Northwest League champions.
Norberto Obeso started the 12th inning rally with an infield single.
Obeso led off the 12th with an infield single to short and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Pinch-hitter Mattingly Romanin was trying to give himself up by trying to lay down a bunt but Diaz would have none of it as he walked Romanin on four straight pitches. Reggie Pruitt bunted to move the runners up with Romanin barely making it to second as there was a question the bunt would be caught in mid-air down the first base side. Deiferson Barreto was intentionally walked to load the bases to set up a force play every base. With Kevin Vicuna at the plate, Diaz uncorked another wild pitch that allowed Obeso to reach the pentagon.
Kyle Weatherly tossed a one-hitter over 5-2/3 innings against Eugene Thursday.
Canadians starter Kyle Weatherly walked Em’s leadoff hitter Zach Davis to start the game but managed to strand him on third with two strikeouts. He set down seven in a row and 10 of 11 with a walk to Aramis Ademan being the only mis-step. Weatherly got emotional when he stranded Ademan at third to end the fourth inning. He felt he had struck out Rafael Narea on a 2-2 pitch but the home plate umpire did not agree. Weatherly came back with a breaking ball to freeze Narea at the plate and end the frame.
Weatherly worked around a one-out walk to Edgar Rondon in the fifth but had to deal with a leadoff walk to Davis again to start the sixth. Weatherly helped turn a 9-1-2 double play to get Davis at first after Ademan flied out to Brock Lundquist in right. Miguel Amaya kept the inning going with a double to not only spoil Weatherly’s no-hit bid but put an end to his night. He was up to 86 pitches and had a strikeout-walk total of four apiece.
Brayden Bouchey got the final out of the sixth and set down the side in order in the seventh, getting help from Bryan Lizardo who made a nice play by barehanding a bunted ball at third from Jose Gonzalez. A leadoff double by Tyler Payne and a wild pitch would put Bouchey in a jam. He would strike out Tolly Filotei swinging before giving way to lefty Miguel Burgos. He walked Davis to put runners on the corners before striking out Ademan. He was one strike away from stranding the runners but he threw a wild pitch on a 2-2 count that scored Payne and put Davis in scoring position. Burgos would strike out Amaya to end the eighth.
Burgos would run into trouble in the ninth when a one-out error by Lizardo at third allowed Rafael Narea to reach base and he would go to third on a two-out pinch-hit single by Jhonny Bethencourt. Burgos would get out of it by getting Payne to foul out to short.
William Ouellette won his second game of the year with three scoreless innings Thursday.
William Ouellette took over in the 10th and managed to strand Davis at third after he walked, stole second and moved up another 90 feet on a groundout. Ouellette got some sterling defence in the 11th when Pruitt ran down a ball to deep center field by Gustavo Polanco. Vicuna then made two nice defensive plays at short and got some help with a nice pick from Kacy Clemens at first base for the final out. Ouellette ended his outing by getting the last eight hitters in a row.
Brock Lundquist gets ready to round first and would make it to third with a leadoff triple in the sixth.
The C’s scored the first run of the game in the sixth when Lundquist led off with a triple and would tag up on a Clemens pop-up to short in foul territory off Emeralds reliever Andry Rondon.
Vancouver had at least one runner aboard in every inning to that point except in the third. Vicuna’s one-out single in the first was wasted and a two-out rally that saw Obeso single and Matt Morgan draw a walk in the second went nowhere. Morgan fouled off three pitches in a row against Eugene starter Bailey Clark before drawing a walk after an eight-pitch at bat.
The fourth inning saw a Clemens single erased after Cullen Large hit into a double play and a Lizardo walk would be stranded. Pruitt had a one-out single in the fifth with a single and went on to steal second. Barreto would get on base with a walk to chase Clark from the game but Rondon got out of the inning when Gonzalez threw out Pruitt at third on a 9-5 double play.
Pruitt got on base again in the seventh on a two-out error in center field but the C’s could not get an insurance run as Barreto went down swinging against Rondon, who struck out the side.
Vancouver had their opportunities to put this game away earlier. They had a chance to regain the lead in the eighth when Clemens singled and made it to second on an error in right by Gonzalez but they could not capitalize against Junior Marte, who retired the side in order in the ninth and had four strikeouts.
Against Luis Aquino, Vicuna had a two-out single in the tenth but was thrown out trying to steal second. Lundquist drew a leadoff walk in the 11th, made it to second on a Clemens groundout and reached third on a Large deep fly ball to right but Lizardo struck out on a 3-2 pitch for the third out to give Aquino three whiffs over his two innings.
Vicuna, Clemens and Obeso all had two-hit games while Barreto walked twice. The C’s were 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on base but still won anyways. Baseball is a funny game!
Radar Gun Rundown
Kyle Weatherly threw pitches from 77-92 miles per hour. Brayden Bouchey went up to 89 MPH on his strikeout. Miguel Burgos ranged from 77-86 with his offerings, getting three strikeouts on pitches of 80 twice and 81 once. William Ouellette was up to 93 and went as low as 83.
C-Notes
Catcher Matt Morgan is now wearing #30 for the Vancouver Canadians.
Matt Morgan switched jersey numbers as he is now wearing #30 instead of #7. The reason for the switch could be the fact that Blue Jays first round pick Logan Warmoth wore #7 with North Carolina. The Tar Heels shortstop who was taken 22nd overall in this month’s draft may be on his way to Vancouver along with fellow first-rounder Nate Pearson, the righthander from the College of Central Florida Patriots who was taken 28th.
Vancouver is now tied for first place with Tri-City in the North Division after the Dust Devils lost at home to the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes in 12 innings. The C’s and Dust Devils are 10-5, three games ahead of the Everett AquaSox and six ahead of the Spokane Indians.
The Canadians and Emeralds play again Friday afternoon at 1:05 pm. That game can be heard at CanadiansBaseball.com and on TSN Radio 1410.
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