The Vancouver Canadians dropped their third game out of four to the Eugene Emeralds as they fell 10-5 to the Eugene Emeralds at Ron Tonkin Field Friday.
The Canadians opened the scoring for the first time in the series when Tanner Morris singled to right filed off Travis Perry and took another 90 feet when Franklin Labour mishandled the ball. Morris would score on a Spencer Horwitz base hit to left.
Vancouver upped its lead to 2-0 when Sebastian Espino launched the first pitch he saw from Perry over the fence in left-center in the second inning.
Nick Fraze was able to keep the Emeralds off the board over the first three innings. He stranded a Will Wilson double in the first, a pair of singles by Tyler Fitzgerald and Brandon Matarano in the second and a bases loaded jam in the third when Simon Whiteman singled and Wilson and Logan Wyatt walked. The house of cards came crumbling down with one out in the fourth when Matarano homered on just the second pitch of the inning. Javeyan Williams singled, stole second and third and scored on a Whiteman single to tie the game at 2-2. Whiteman would score on a fielding error by Espino in left that allowed Patrick Bailey to get to third base. Lefthander Brandon Eisert took over for Fraze but could not strand the runner at third as Wilson produced a sacrifice fly to score Bailey to provide Eugene with a 4-2 lead.
Eugene would get to Eisert in the fifth when Wyatt worked a leadoff walk and made it to third on a Fitzgerald double. A Labour sac fly and a Williams base hit would up the Emeralds lead to 6-2.
The Canadians would fight back in the sixth when Cameron Eden reached base on a dropped ball at first by Bailey on what would have been a 5-3 putout. Ryan Gold was hit by a pitch from Taylor Rashi with one out before Espino doubled to center where a miscue by Williams allowed Eden and Gold to score and Espino to reach third. D.J. Neal delivered a two-out single to left that Sean Roby could not handle at third to plate Espino.
The Emeralds would put the game away in the ninth with four runs off Sam Ryan. A Labour double scored walks by Jacob Gonzalez and Wyatt. Williams drove in Labour with a single before an infield single by Whiteman combined with a throwing error by Gold at first allowed Williams to cross the plate with Eugene’s 10th run.
C-Notes
Espino and Clarke combined for half of Vancouver’s eight hits but they had their problems in the field as Espino committed two errors in left while Clarke was charged with a passed ball. Gold also committed two fielding gaffes at first base to give the Canadians four errors on the night.
Horwitz was the on-base lead with a single and two walks and the duo of Morris and Neal had a base hit, a base on balls and a stolen base. Tanner Kirwer was 0-for-1 in a pinch-hitting role as he subbed in for Davis Schneider in the ninth inning. Rafael Lantigua had the other Vancouver knock.
Vancouver had at least one runner on base for seven innings, going down in order in the third and fifth. Their best opportunities to score came in the fourth and seventh. Horwitz drew a leadoff walk and Clarke came up with a two-out single in the fourth and a one-out Morris walk and stolen base and a two-out Horwitz free pass were wasted.
Fraze allowed nine baserunners over 3-1/3 innings on six hits and three walks. Two of the four runs he allowed were unearned. He struck out three and split his six outs in play evenly on the ground and in the air over his 68-pitch outing.
Eisert gave up two runs on three hits and two walks and struck out two over 2-2/3 innings. Ryan cruised through the first two innings by striking out the side in the seventh inning and whiffing two more in the eighth before the aforementioned ninth. Three of the four runs were earned on three hits and three walks but he finished with seven strikeouts.
The Canadians are in third place in the High-A West standings at 16-12, one game back of Everett and two behind Eugene.
Friday’s loss marked the first time Vancouver lost wearing its red uniforms after going 5-0.
Right-hander Hagen Danner has been placed on the 7-day injured list after exiting Thursday night’s game.
Willy Gaston has been assigned #35. He wore #16 during the 2019 season with Vancouver.
The C’s play the Em’s again in another 7:05 p.m. first pitch. Adam Kloffenstein looks to get back on track against Giants prospect Seth Corry. The game will be on CanadiansBaseball.com.
C’s Alumni Report
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