The Vancouver Canadians downed the Eugene Emeralds 4-2 at Nat Bailey Stadium on Tuesday.
The Emeralds got to C’s starter Michael Dominguez in the top of the first. Grant McCray walked and Carter Howell singled in his first High-A at-bat to left field to put the first two men on. Victor Bericoto fouled out to C’s second baseman Cade Doughty for the first out. Dominguez tried to get McCray but his throw went off the Emeralds leadoff hitter and went out of play, allowing McCray to score and Howell to move to third base after executing the double steal. Logan Wyatt struck out but Adrian Sugastey sent one to the left field fence to bring in Howell but Gabby Martinez played the carom off the fence perfectly and fired the ball to Doughty to nail Sugastey at second to end the inning.
Emeralds lefty Matt Mikulski retired the side in order in the first inning with Wyatt snaring an off-target throw from shortstop Aeverson Arteaga in front of the first base bag to tag out Andrés Sosa.
C’s center fielder Devonte Brown ran down a deep fly ball from Arteaga to begin the top of the second inning. Ghordy Santos lined a one-out single to right in the top of the second but Dominguez struck out Edison Mora swinging before Sosa fired from his knees to Doughty to nail Santos trying to steal second for the inning-ending twin-killing.
Martinez was Vancouver’s first baserunner of the game with a leadoff walk to start the bottom of the second but he would not advance any further.
Damon Dues opened the Eugene third with a base hit to left and stole second base. McCray moved Dues to third with a ground out to second but Dominguez was retired Howell on a fly out to right as Alan Roden made a strong throw to force Dues back to third. Bericoto then grounded out too short to end the frame.
Dasan Brown—the designated hitter-drilled the first pitch from Mikulski in the bottom of the third off the wall in center field for a standup triple. He slid home safely on a Devonte Brown sacrifice fly to right to cut the Eugene lead to 2-1. Sosa was hit by a pitch around the hip with one out but that was all the offence for that inning.
The top of the fourth inning saw Dominguez help himself by spearing a comeback from Wyatt for a 1-3 putout and Devonte Brown made a nice leaping catch in front of the manual scoreboard on a drive from Sugastey for the second out. However, the Em’s would drive up Dominguez’s pitch count. Arteaga walked, Santos singled to right and Mora walked to load the bases but Dominguez struck out Dues swinging for out number three.
The Emeralds defence did not shine to begin the bottom of the fourth. Martinez hit a sharp grounder down the third base line that Dues was able to snare but his one-hop throw was dropped at first by Wyatt. The play was ruled an infield single. Michael Turconi hit a tapper back to the mound and it appeared the Emeralds lefty was about to attempt a 1-6-3 double play but his low throw sailed wide of second so both runners were safe. Alex De Jesús literally put the C’s on the board with a three-run homer off C’s Diamond Vision in center to put the home side ahead 4-2.
Mikulski’s final offering was plunking Josh Kasevich with a pitch near his back foot. Kasevich stole second but Ben Madison got the Em’s out of the inning.
Naswell Paulino was summoned from the bullpen to work the fifth inning for the C’s. He walked McCray but Howell forced him out on a 5-4 fielder’s choice. Bericoto lined out to short but a couple of wild pitches got Howell over to third before Paulino struck out Wyatt on a 3-2 pitch for the third out.
The Emeralds threatened again in the sixth when Santos doubled to right as Roden had trouble picking up the ball with two outs. That was bracketed by strikeouts of Arteaga swinging and Mota looking to keep Eugene’s inning run total at zero.
Madison retired the C’s in order in the fifth and sixth before Paulino teamed up with Justin Kelly to work a clean seventh to set down the Em’s 1-2-3. Kelly needed just one pitch to get Howell to fly out to right.
Kelly issued a leadoff walk to Bericoto in the eighth but he struck out Wyatt before getting a 5-4-3 inning-ending double play off the bat of Sugastey.
Emeralds reliever Mat Olsen stranded a Sosa two-out single to right in the seventh and did likewise in the eighth with a Turconi one-out walk and De Jesús base hit to center when he got Kasevich to ground into a 6-4-3 double play.
Matt Svanson slammed the door shut with a 1-2-3 inning, getting Arteaga looking at strike three to begin the frame before ending it with a whiff of Mora. Svanson got his second save for Paulino’s first win of 2023 to even his record at 1-1.
C-Notes
Congratulations to Dahian Santos who captured Northwest League Pitcher of the Week honours for May 22-28. The 20-year-old Venezuelan spun five shutout innings of three-hit ball and struck out four to earn the win against Spokane on May 27. Santos is the fourth C’s pitcher to receive the NWL Pitcher of the Week award. I wasn’t sure Santos would get the award when Spokane’s Jarrod Cande put in seven innings of one-run ball to defeat the C’s on May 25. Credit should be given to the voters not giving in to ‘voter fatigue’ and naming Santos this week’s winner. Santos joins Chad Dallas, Trenton Wallace and Devereaux Harrison in winning the league’s top pitching award in 2023.
First baseman Rainer Nuñez and righthander T.J. Brock were promoted to Double-A New Hampshire prior to Tuesday’s game. Nuñez slashed .309/.390/.446 with eight doubles, one triple and three home runs to go along with 26 runs batted in. He played in 74 games with the C’s dating back to last season when he hit .321 in 27 games.
Brock was a perfect 4-0 and was 4-for-4 in save opportunities with a 1.77 earned run average over 20-1/3 innings in which he struck out 31 batters against nine walks. Going back to 2022, Brock pitched 30-2/3 frames with a career mark of 5-0 to go with five saves and three holds in total. All the best to Rainer and T.J. in Manchester.
Peyton Williams has been called up from Low-A Dunedin to replace Nuñez. The 6-foot-5 first baseman was taken out of Iowa by the Toronto Blue Jays in the seventh round of the 2022 MLB Draft. The left-handed hitting Williams put up an on-base percentage of .382 in 28 games with the D-Jays last season but he found his power stroke this season by slashing .273/.362/.480 with 10 doubles, seven home runs, 33 runs batted in and three stole bases over 41 games in the Florida State League. Williams was in town Tuesday to catch the ceremonial first pitch and is wearing number 40. The 22-year-old from Des Moines, Iowa joins forces again with his former Iowa Hawkeyes teammate, lefthander Trenton Wallace.
Speaking of Wallace, C’s broadcaster Tyler Zickel pointed out during Tuesday’s broadcast that Emeralds outfielder Carter Howell was coached by Trenton’s father Greg Wallace at Division II Augustana University in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
The other roster move from Tuesday saw catcher Lyle Lin be activated from the Development List.
In other notes, Michael Turconi made his first professional start at first base and made five putouts that included a double play for a flawless debut. Alan Roden extended his on-base streak to 25 games with a walk. Josh Kasevich changed walk-ups songs as he is now using “Lights Come On” by Jason Aldean. He followed the footsteps of 2022 C’s shortstop in not just wearing number 8 but also by using “Levitating” by Dua Lipa.
Also, former Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Ricky Romero will be signing autographs for the fans but it will not be this coming Saturday, June 3. The 2019 C’s broadcaster will be at Nat Bailey Stadium on Saturday, June 17 instead.
The Canadians take on the Emeralds again on Wednesday. Adam Macko will let the first pitch go at 7:05 p.m. on CanadiansBaseball.com and MiLB.TV. Wallace and Rafael Sanchez are listed as Vancouver’s probable starters for Thursday and Friday.
Vancouver has a one-game lead over Spokane for first place in the Northwest League with a record of 25 wins and 20 losses.
Radar Gun Rundown
Dominguez pitched in the 80 to 93 miles per hour range. Paulino was at 78 and recorded strikeouts of 90, 80, 92 and 82. Kelly had a K of 90 and Svanson clocked in from 84-98.
C-IGs
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