The Vancouver Canadians spanked the Eugene Emeralds 11-4 at P.K. Park on Monday.
The C’s got to work early against Emeralds starter Nick Sinacola when Alan Roden singled to center field on the third pitch of the game and Andrés Sosa walked on four pitches. Roden scored on a ground-rule double to right-center by Michael Turconi and Sosa came home on a Garrett Spain 3-1 groundout to put Vancouver ahead 2-0.
Canadians starter Michael Dominguez walked Grant McCray on a 3-2 pitch to begin the bottom of the first. McCray went to second as he took off on a hit-and-run which resulted in a 6-3 groundout to short by Brett Auerbach. After a 13-pitch battle, Dominguez struck out Carter Howell looking before retiring Victor Bericoto on a fly ball to center.
Gabby Martinez singled to left to start the top of the second before Sinacola retired the side in order. Aeverson Arteaga had a base hit to right off Dominguez with one out in the bottom of the second and moved into scoring position on Luis Toribio‘s grounder. Turconi could not handle the ball at first on his backhand but Estiven Machado was able to get to the ball and throw it to Dominguez covering the first base bag for a 3-4-1 putout. Dominguez left Arteaga in scoring position when Ghordy Santos grounded out to second
The C’s put together a two-out rally in the third when Cade Doughty reached on an infield single to short as Arteaga could not field it cleanly. Doughty scored when Spain lined one over the head of Howell in right field for an RBI triple.
The Emeralds got on the board in the bottom of the third when Edison Mora doubled to left with nobody out and stole third base. He would run home on a McCray sacrifice fly to center.
Sinacola took care of the C’s in order in the top of the fourth and Dominguez tried to do the same when he retired the first two hitters in the bottom half. instead, he walked Arteaga on four straight pitches and was replaced by Naswell Paulino after a 73-pitch outing. Paulino struck out Toribio for the third out.
Eugene went to the bullpen for the first time with Ty Weber coming into the game and Vancouver jumped all over him. Roden blooped a single to left and Sosa walked and they came home on back-to-back base hits up the middle by Turconi and Doughty—the latter of a seeing-eye variety—to up the C’s lead to 5-1. Spain then singled to left to plate Turconi and a throwing error by Mora in left allowed Doughty and Spain to move up an extra base. Former Oregon Duck Josh Kasevich celebrated his homecoming with a two-run single up the gut to drive in Doughty and Spain. Martinez chopped one over the head of Weber on the mound to get on base and Kasevich scored from second on a Dasan Brown double down the left field line. A Machado groundout to short scored Martinez to give the C’s a 10-1 lead.
The Emeralds tried to climb back into it with a sixth inning rally against Paulino. A walk by Santos and a two-base error on a throwing miscue by Machado at second allowed Mora and Santos to get into scoring position. Those two runners came home on a single to center by McCray with Mora just beating the throw home with a headfirst slide. Paulino would strike out Auerbach and retired the next two hitters to limit the damage.
Ben Madison retired Vancouver 1-2-3 in the top of the sixth inning and the Emeralds looked to creep closer against Paulino in the home half of the sixth. Adrian Sugastey started the frame with an infield single to short. Sugastey was forced out at second on a 4-6 fielder’s choice by Arteaga but a Kasevich throwing error resulted in Arteaga getting to second. Santos then doubled to center with two outs to score Arteaga to make it a 10-4 game.
Madison had another 1-2-3 frame in the seventh for Eugene and Braden Scott overcame a two-out double to center by Howell by striking out the side as he sat down McCray, Auerbach and Bericoto.
Vancouver had a chance to really pile on against Seth Lonsway in the eighth. Machado was plunked in the right foot before Sosa singled to right with one out and Turconi walked to load the bases. Shallow fly balls by Doughty and Spain resulted in the bases remaining loaded.
Sugastey singled against new C’s reliever Sam Ryan to open the bottom of the eighth but Ryan faced the minimum thanks to an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play by Toribio.
Vancouver would score in the ninth against Lonsway when Brown singled to center with two outs and Machado was hit by a pitch again on the right foot. Roden singled off the glove of Bericoto at first into right field to drive in Brown.
Ryan hit Mora in the hand with a pitch with one out. Mora stayed in the game and was later forced out by McCray on a 5-4 fielder’s choice. The game ended when Auerbach flew out to right. The winning pitcher was Paulino as he evened his record at 2-2.
C-Notes
Vancouver goes to 37-26 on the season with two games remaining in the first half. Eugene and Tri-City are 33-31, Spokane is 32-31 and Everett is back at .500 at 32-32. Hillsboro is in last place at 24-40.
Ryan Jennings will get the ball for Vancouver in game two of this series in Eugene. The first pitch is at 6:35 p.m. on CanadiansBaseball.com and MiLB.TV.
Adam Macko and Rafael Sanchez are the probable starters listed for Monty’s Mounties for Thursday and Friday.
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