The Vancouver Canadians and Eugene Emeralds traded shutout wins at Nat Bailey Stadium Friday with the C’s taking the first game 2-0 before losing the second game 6-0.
The Canadians broke out on top in the fourth when Addison Barger went to the opposite field by homering off the left field fair pole against Mason Black. One out later, Trevor Schwecke swatted a solo shot to left-center field for an insurance marker, sending the crowd home with a free burger and root beer courtesy of A&W.
Ricky Tiedemann pitched the first four innings before North Vancouver’s Will McAffer tossed two more shutout frames and Jol Concepcion nailed down the seventh.
Game 2 Recap
The Emeralds scored their first run of the day when Luis Matos homered to left field with one out in the third inning off Naswell Paulino.
Another one-out rally in the fourth increased the Eugene lead to four. Carter Aldrete singled to center and Najee Gaskins was hit by a Paulino pitch and they would score on a Max Wright home into the left field bullpen.
The Emeralds tacked on two more runs in the seventh against Mark Simon. The first three batters all walked with Simon Whiteman and Ghordy Santos stealing a base before another free pass was issued to Matos. A single to right by Hunter Bishop scored Whiteman. With one out, Luis Toribio scored Santos with a high chopper back to Garrett Farmer behind the mound and had to settle for a 1-3 putout.
C-Notes
Tiedemann may not have had his best stuff but he was still able to keep the first place Emeralds off the scoreboard. Santos drilled a single to left on the second pitch of the game past a diving Barger at short to left before getting Matos to ground into a 6-4-3 double play and striking out Bishop swinging on a 3-2 pitch.
The top of the second began with a Casey Schmitt four-pitch walk. Tiedemann would strike out Luis Toribio but Aldrete singled on a 0-2 pitch to left past a diving Barger at short. Falling behind 3-1 in the count, Tiedemann rallied to strikeout Gaskins swinging and got Rodolfo Bone to do likewise to end the inning.
The Emeralds got another leadoff runner aboard in the third when Whiteman walked with a full count and Aldrete blooped a 1-2 pitch to center for a base hit. Matos chopped a ball to third to Schwecke who stepped on the bag to force out Whiteman but his high throw sailed over first allowed Matos to get to second and Santos to make it to third. Tiedemann blew Bishop away on a 3-2 pitch for a strikeout before Schneider made a diving catch to his left, laying out to rob Schmitt of a potential two-run single for out number three.
Tiedemann was a strike away from a 1-2-3 fourth inning after mowing down Toribio with a called strikeout and getting Aldrete to pop up to first. The lefty then nicked Gaskins on the right knee on a 3-2 pitch but struck out Bone looking to end his day. The Jays third round pick from 2021 scattered three hits, two walks and a plunk by striking out seven over four innings. He threw 78 pitches, 44 for strikes.
McAffer walked Whiteman to open the fifth but struck out Santos and Matos before Bishop lined out to third.
Schmitt was drilled in the left arm by a McAffer pitch to begin the sixth but Toribio, Aldrete and Gaskins flied out to right, center and left to wrap up his two innings of work to get his third win of the year.
Concepcion struck out Bone looking before Whiteman singed up the middle in the seventh. A 5-4-3 ground ball double play from Santos ended the game and gave Concepcion his first save of the season.
Steward Berroa‘s bid for an extra-base hit to right-center on the first pitch of the game was run down by Bishop to begin the bottom of the first.
Mack Mueller was the first Canadians hitter to reach base with a one-out walk in the third and Anthony Morales had the first base hit with a single to right field to put two runners aboard. Bishop made the final two put outs to retire Berroa and Schneider, making a diving catch on a sinking liner by Schneider to turn Vancouver away.
Morris singled to left after Schwecke’s fourth inning homer and Spain singled to right past a diving Whiteman at second base to put runners on the corners as Morris slid in feet first safely on a close play at third. Spain stole second but Black struck out Mueller and Morales to get the final two outs of the frame.
Bishop robbed Berroa again with another diving catch to begin the fifth inning. Barger was hit by a pitch by Black on the left leg with two outs but was all the C’s could get in that frame as Jiménez flied out near the warning track in left-center.
Morris was the lone baserunner for the C’s in the sixth with a one-out walk but Abel Adames retired the next two hitters for the Emeralds.
Barger and Morris were the only Vancouver hitters to get on base twice. Barger was plunked after hitting his 12th homer of the year. Morris had a single and a walk.
Game 2 Notes
The C’s defence gave Paulino a helping hand in the first inning. Schneider made a leaping catch in front of the left field fence to rob Santos of a home run to start the game. P.K. Morris then stretched into foul territory and kept his foot on the bag on a throw from third to get Matos for the second out. Paulino struck out Bishop but a passed ball by Andrés Sosa allowed Bishop to get on base. Bishop stole second but Paulino got Toribio to ground out to second.
Schneider was the first baserunner for the Canadians as Em’s starter Jake Wong took too long to deliver a 3-2 pitch, committing a pitch clock violation, resulting in a one-out walk in the first. Barger then singled to right to put runners on the corners but Jiménez flied out to shallow center and Schwecke grounded out to third.
The C’s were turned away in the third when Bishop ran down a Sosa fly ball in foul territory near the right field foul line and Berroa flied out to Matos at the warning track in center. Schneider kept the inning going with a two-out walk and tried to score on a Barger base hit to center as he took off running on the pitch. Schneider was thrown out by Matos on a close plate at the plate to keep the Emeralds in the lead.
Jiménez had home run distance on a couple of foul balls in the fourth but struck out to begin the fourth. Morris had a two-out single to center but was stranded.
Spain gave one a ride to left field to start the fifth inning but Gaskins made the catch in front of the short fence to rob the C’s right fielder of a home run. Sosa followed with a walk but that was all for the home side as Gaskins ran a ball down in at the warning track in left-center to retire Schneider.
Jiménez was robbed of a hit in the sixth when Schmitt ranged to his left over the second base bag before spinning and firing a dart to first to retire his shortstop counterpart to help Nick Avila complete a three–up, three-down inning.
Vancouver made one last stab at getting on the scoreboard in the seventh. Morris watched four pitches miss the strike zone from Avila to earn a leadoff walk. Spain doubled to right with one out to get Morris over to third. Sosa struck out after a nine-pitch at-bat before Berroa walked to load the bases. Schneider lined out to short to end the game.
Barger had two of the Vancouver four hits, Spain had the only extra-base hit with a double and Morris had the other base knock and drew a walk. Schneider walked twice and Berroa and Sosa heard ball four once.
The Canadians managed to get a doubleheader split despite going 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position in both games, leaving six men on in the first game and eight in the second.
Paulino allowed the first two runners to get on base when Aldrete blooped a single to right and Gaskins bunted a ball up the first base side to get on base. After Wright popped up to first, the C’s got out of the inning with a 7-5-4 double play. Schneider tried to make a diving catch on.a sinking liner but could not quite hang on. The left fielder quickly got up and fired the ball to Schwecke who stepped on third base to force Aldrete and fired the ball to Miguel Hiraldo at second to get Gaskins.
Garrett Spain made a diving catch on a sinking liner in right field to rob Santos of another hit to start the third inning just before Matos’ home run opened the scoring for Eugene in the third.
After Wright’s home run, Whiteman singled up the middle but was erased on a 6-4-3 double play by Santos to end the fourth.
Paulino’s first 1-2-3 inning came in the fifth when he started and ended the inning by ringing up Matos and Schmitt.
The game was paused one out into the top of the sixth inning when C’s manager Brent Lavallee and trainer Roelvis Vargas visited Paulino on the mound due to some sort of injury concern. Paulino would remain in the game as it appeared to be an issue with the mound and not Paulino himself. He struck out Toribio and Aldrete and almost had another 1-2-3 inning but Jiménez’s throwing error at short pulled Morris off the bag at first to allowed Gaskins to reach. Gaskins stole second but Paulino ended his outing by getting Wright to pop out to third in foul territory.
Paulino gave up four runs over six innings on seven hits and a hit by pitch but had five strikeouts and five groundouts with no walks.
Simon gave up two runs after walking three and giving up a hit to the only four batters he faced. Farmer retired the side in order with with a popup and two groundouts, stranding two of three Simon runners.
Emeralds manager Carlos Valderrama decided to make last-second changes to the lineup without informing the press box for game two. Santos was listed as the shortstop but was the designated hitter, Bishop was to be in left field but was in right instead, Schmitt was originally at third but was moved to short, Aldrete was to be in right field but was at third base and Gaskins was to DH but played in left. That is why you use a pencil and not a pen for the scorecard I suppose.
Jimmy Robbins makes his Nat Bailey Stadium debut against the Emeralds in a 7:05 p.m. first pitch at The Nat. He’ll face Nick Swiney in a battle of lefthanders. The game is on CanadiansBaseball.com and MiLB.TV.
Radar Gun Rundown
Tiedemann had strikeouts at 81, 83, 95, 96 and 95 miles per hour. He was up to 98 and 99 and 76 and 78. McAffer recorded strikeouts at 95 and 85. He ranged from 83 to 98. Concepcion was at 83 and 93.
Paulino had punchouts of 82, 82, 80, 80 and 87 and was in the 78-92 range. Simon was around 79-92 and Farmer was at 73, 74 and 84.
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