The Vancouver Canadians came up empty against the Eugene Emeralds at P.K. Park over the weekend.
On Saturday, the C’s fell 4-3 to the Em’s. Eugene scored twice in the second inning off Paxton Schultz. Three walks to begin the inning and a Carter Aldrete single along with a throwing error by Sebastian Espino in left field resulted in Armani Smith and Franklin Labour coming in to score.
The Canadians scored their first run in the top of the third. Rafael Lantigua‘s fielder’s choice erased a Philip Clarke leadoff walk against Conner Nurse but Lantigua stole second base easily as Emeralds catcher Robert Emery dropped the ball on the transfer. Lantigua would make it to third on a D.J. Neal single to right before a two-out base hit to right by Ryan Gold brought him home.
The Emeralds restored their two-run lead in the fourth on a two-out rally on back-to-back doubles by Heath Quinn and Aldrete. Neal almost caught Aldrete’s drive near the short right field fence but could not hang on to it.
The C’s drew to within a run again in the fifth as Lantigua reached second base on a throwing error by Jacob Gonzalez at third. Lantigua would advance 90 feet on consecutive fly ball outs by Neal (right field) and Luis De Los Santos (left field) to score the C’s second run.
Vancouver would tie it in the seventh as Lantigua singled with one out to right to force Nurse’s exit from the game. Lantigua swiped second and scampered home on a De Los Santos doubled down the left field off John Russell.
Eugene would break the tie in the eighth. Will Wilson doubled off Adrian Hernandez to start the frame and ran up to third on a wild pitch. One out later, Smith hit a ground ball to first. Gold tried to throw out Wilson at the plate but his throw off was the mark as Wilson scored. Smith was thrown out at second on a 2-6 fielder’s choice.
On Sunday, the C’s hopes of gaining a split of the six-game series were dashed as the Emeralds—aka the Monarcas de Eugene—put them away 7-2.
A leadoff walk in the second inning got Eugene started in the second inning as Ricardo Genoves worked the count to ball four against Brian Rapp. A wild pitch and a Sean Roby double to left that got down in front of a diving Sebastian Espino scored Genoves with the game’s first run. Rapp induced two ground ball outs to the right side of the infield but Tyler Flores singled home Roby to give the home side a two-run lead.
The Monarcas would come knocking against Rapp again in the third inning as a Tyler Fitzgerald home run, a Genoves walk and a two-run homer by Roby on a hanging breaking ball upped their lead to 5-0.
The Canadians would respond with two long balls of their own in the fourth off Kai-Wei Teng. Sebastian Espino literally put the C’s on the scoreboard by swatting a leadoff home run off the top of the scoreboard in left-center. One out later, Luis De Los Santos also went deep to left center to reduce Eugene’s lead to 5-2.
The Em’s put up their last two runs in the sixth against Connor Law. Jacob Gonzalez got the rally going with a double and Ismael Munguia got to first by getting hit by a pitch. A double steal and a two-out single by Genoves would bring them in.
C-Notes
Saturday
De Los Santos did a good job to maintain his concentration after third baseman Ronny Brito dove to his left on a ground ball by Wilson. De Los Santos was able to complete the 6-3 play to end the first.
The Canadians were unable to add more runs in the third. After Gold’s RBI single sent Neal to third, Cameron Eden drew a walk but Spencer Horwitz flied out to right to leave runners on the corners.
Espino reached on a throwing error by Gonzalez in the sixth but was thrown out trying to steal second.
Third baseman Ronny Brito made a valiant attempt on trying to throw out Smith to start off the sixth. He dove to his right to snare Smith’s grounder and made a one-hop throw to Gold at first but he could not hang on to the ball. Smith got no further than first as Schultz completed his six-inning outing by striking out the side all swinging.
Vancouver had a chance to put Schultz in line for a potential win. After tying the game in the seventh on De Los Santos’ double, Gold drew a two-out walk to put two runners on but Eden got underneath a 2-0 pitch from Russell and popped up to second to end the inning.
Opportunity came knocking again for the C’s in the eighth. Espino hustled all the way to second by turning a single to center into a double with one out on a 0-2 pitch. Eric Rivera—who entered the game to play right field in the previous half-Inning—was then hit by a pitch above the left elbow on a 3-2 pitch. Chris Wright took over for Russell on the mound to strike out Clarke before getting a long third out when Lantigua took one to the warning track in left-center.
In the ninth, the C’s got the leadoff man aboard when Neal heard ball four but he remained stranded when Eden came to the plate with two outs. Eden lifted a foul ball down the right field side that Wyatt overran and wound up dropping. However, Eden could not take advantage of the reprieve as he flied out to center to end the game.
Justin Maese was needed to get the final out of the eighth as he replaced Hernandez. Maese whiffed Jacob Gonzalez to strand a two-out double by Labour.
Schultz made the quality start grade with three runs allowed on six innings. He gave up four hits and three walks but struck out nine. He split his eight outs in play evenly on the ground and in the air.
Hernandez took the loss over 1-2/3 innings in which he allowed a run on hits. He struck out two in a perfect seventh.
De Los Santos had the only two-hit night as he drove in two. Lantigua scored all three runs in a 1-for-4 night while stealing two bases. Gold and Neal had a hit and a walk apiece. Espino had the other hit.
Espino, Neal and Rivera were involved in a defensive shuffle in the sixth. switched from right to left field in the sixth inning and Rivera took his place in right. Espino took over at third base for Brito while Neal moved from right to left field and Rivera replaced Neal in right.
Sunday
Roither Hernandez made his Canadians debut in relief of Law in the sixth inning. Wearing #36, he retired the first batter he faced by getting Roby on a comebacker to the mound to end the frame. The 23 year-old Dominican walked one and struck out one in his 1-1/3 inning stint. The 6-foot-4 righty was called up from Low-A Dunedin after winning two of three decisions with a 3.05 earned run average. Hernandez struck out 31 and walked six over 20-2/3 innings and recorded three saves.
Vancouver’s best opportunity to open the scoring came in the second when Lantigua led off with a walk. However, Clarke flied out to center and Lantigua was then caught stealing second. Rivera kept the inning going with a walk before Eden took one for the team, getting a bruise near his left shoulder. They were left stranded when Morris lined out to second.
They had a chance to build on their two-run inning in the fourth. Horwitz singled with one out and Clarke reached on a two-out infield single to second with two away but they were left on when Rivera was called out on strikes on a 3-2 pitch.
In the fifth, Morris ripped a one-out double to the right field corner and Espino got on base with an infield single to short. Travis Perry relieved Teng on the bump and got Gold to fly out to center before striking out De Los Santos to strand the runners.
Horwitz had a double off Taylor Rashi that just eluded Flores in left field with two out in the eighth. Flores tried to make a sliding catch at the left field line but could not hang on the ball.
The last baserunner for Vancouver was Clarke as he walked to start the ninth inning against Tyler Schimpf. Clarke was doubled off second when Rivera flied out to Labour in right field as he came a long way towards the line to make a nice running catch and start a 9-3 twin-killing. Three pitches later, Eden popped up to short for the final out.
Espino, De Los Santos and Horwitz accounted for 75 percent of the C’s hit total with two knocks apiece. Morris and Gold had the other safeties. Lantigua was on base twice with a pair of walks.
Rapp was beat up for five runs on five hits and three walks while whiffing two in five innings. Sean Mellen worked around four hits over two shutout innings and striking out one. Law was charged with two runs on two hits and had a K over two-third of an inning. Parker Caracci survived an infield single and a walk for a shutout eighth. His ERA is down to 1.08.
Lantigua ranged well over to his right to snare a ground ball by Wyatt in the third inning and tried to make a back-handed flip to De Los Santos at short so he could complete the relay to first. Instead, Lantigua lost his glove but it was a good effort by the Dominican.
The Emeralds had their way with the Canadians by winning both series home and away four games to two. Eugene now has a 4-1/2 game lead over third place Vancouver but are just half-a-game up on Everett.
The Canadians continue their road trip by beginning a six-game series in Everett against the Seattle Mariner-affiliated AquaSox. C.J. Van Eyk gets the call for Vancouver against Juan Then. You can listen to all the action from Everett Memorial Stadium on CanadiansBaseball.com at 7:05 pm.
The C’s will not have to deal with Julio Rodriguez as the outfield prospect and the cover boy of the 2021 Baseball America Prospect Handbook was called up to Double-A Arkansas.
The next four starters for Vancouver will be Adam Kloffenstein, Luis Quinones, Paxton Schultz and Brian Rapp. Sunday’s starter has not been announced.
Righthander Sean Wymer was placed on the 7-day injured list Sunday. The Flower Mound, Texas native had not pitched since June 15 against the AquaSox.
All the best to 2021 C’s righty Andrew McInvale. The 6-foot-4 hurler is now with the Miami Marlins as the Toronto Blue Jays traded him and infielder Joe Panik for outfielder Corey Dickerson and right-handed reliever Adam Cimber. The 24 year-old McInvale made two appearances for the C’s, striking out six batters in four innings before getting promoted to Double-A New Hampshire. He was taken in the 37th round in the 2019 draft by Toronto from Liberty University.
C’s Alumni Report
Buffalo beat Syracuse 5-3 in 10 innings Saturday.
- Jonathan Davis (2014) – 0/4, BB, R
- Rowdy Tellez (2014) – 1/5
- Richard Ureña (2014) – 0/3, BB
- Cullen Large (2017) – 0/3, BB, 2R, SB
- Logan Warmoth (2017) – 1/4 , 2 RBI
- Dany Jiménez (2017) – 1.0IP 1R/0ER 1K, SV (2)
The Herd also beat the Mets 9-7 in extras Sunday.
- Large – 1/6
- Warmoth – 1/4, RBI
- Kevin Vicuña (2017) – 0/4, R
- Jackson McClelland (2015-2016) 1.0IP 1H 1R/0ER 0BB 0K, SV (1)
New Hampshire was blown out by Bowie 10-0 Saturday
- Chavez Young (2017) – 1/4
- Tanner Kirwer (2018, 2021) – 0/3, BB
- Chris Bec (2018) – 0/2, BB
- Graham Spraker (2017) – 1.2IP 0H 0R/ER 1BB 2K, 2.12 ERA
The Fisher Cats were beaten again by the BaySox 8-2 Sunday.
- Samad Taylor (2017) – 0/3, BB
- Otto Lopez (2018) – 1/3, BB, HBP, SB
- L.J. Talley (2021) – 1/3, 2B, BB, 2R
- Brock Lundquist (2017) – 1/4, RBI
- Bec (2018) – 0/3, SAC, BB
- Kirwer (2018, 2021), 0/3, BB, RBI
- Jon Harris (2015) – 2.0IP 0H 0R/ER 1BB 3K
- Will McAffer (2018, 2021) – 0.1IP 0H 0R/ER 0BB 0K
Dunedin lost in St. Lucie 7-5 Saturday.
- Gabriel Ponce (2019) 2.0IP 1H 0R/ER 0BB 3K (SV 4)
Cavan BIggio (2016) was 2-for-3 with a double, a walk and two runs batted in as Toronto beat Baltimore 5-2 Sunday. Patrick Murphy (2016) pitched 1-2/3 scoreless innings with one hit and two walks while whiffing one. Tim Mayza (2014) left the bases loaded to bail out Murphy by retiring the last hitter in the seventh.
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