The Vancouver Canadians pounded the Eugene Emeralds (Exploding Whales) 13-2 at P.K. Park on Thursday.
The C’s grabbed a 3-0 lead three batters into the game. Michael Turconi walked and Andrés Sosa was plunked in the left hand before Alex De Jesús belted a 3-2 pitch from Em’s starter Hayden Birdsong over the wall in left-center for a three-run home run. Gabby Martinez added an infield single to first with two outs before the inning ended.
Vancouver caught a break to start the bottom of the first as Grant McCray was thrown out on a chopper to first. Replays on MiLB.com showed C’s starter Adam Macko and McCray landing on the first base bag at the same time but it was ruled a 3-1 putout. Number-two hitter Brett Auerbach was plunked on the right leg on a 3-2 pitch and one out later, Victor Bericoto drilled a two-run homer to right-center to pull the Emeralds to within a run. Macko would strike out Luis Toribio to end the inning.
The second inning saw a pair of leadoff singles with Estiven Machado getting a base hit up the middle for Vancouver and Aeverson Arteaga singling to left for Eugene. Both runners were stranded in scoring position with Machado stealing second and Arteaga advancing on a ground ball to third by Max Wright.
Macko struck out Ghordy Santos for the first of two straight outs but the third out came with some controversy. Edison Mora popped up to first base and collided with C’s first baseman Lyle Lin, who misjudged the pop-up in foul territory. Lin lunged for the ball in fair territory but could not make the diving catch. In the process, he took out Mora at the knees but Mora was called out for batter’s interference. Emeralds manager Carlos Valderrama came out to argue and was thrown out of the game by home plate umpire Garret Griffin. That prevented Arteaga from scoring what would have been the tying run.
The C’s would expand their lead against Birdsong in the top of the third. Garrett Spain doubled down the right field for a one-out double and he scored on a two-out homer to left by Martinez to put Vancouver up 5-2.
Macko settled down with a three-up, three-down third inning with began with a strikeout of McCray and ended with a called strike three to Carter Howell.
Vancouver would load up the bases to begin the fourth to chase Birdsong from the game as Machado reached on an infield single to short, Lin was hit in the left arm with a pitch and Turconi walked. Brett Standlee relieved Birdsong and surrendered a bloop single to right by Sosa who was jammed on the pitch to score Machado with the C’s sixth run. De Jesus put the Canadians into double digits as he belted the next pitch over the left field wall for a grand slam home run. That ball was crushed as Emeralds left fielder Auerbach did not even bother to jog to the wall for a courtesy look.
Martinez doubled to right for the final hit of the inning.
A double play ball helped Macko face just three batters in the bottom of the fourth. A Toribio walk with one out was nullified by a 6-4-3 double play by Arteaga.
The C’s added another run with a one-out rally in the top of the fifth inning. Lin reached base on an infield knock to third, moved to second on a Turconi walk and scored on a Sosa single to left off the glove of Arteaga at short.
Santos singled to center on the first pitch in the bottom of the fifth but Macko struck out Mora to put up another zero on the linescore. The inning was delayed when Mora fouled a ball off his left knee just before he went down swinging.
Lefthander Matt Mikulski entered the game for Eugene and stranded a Josh Kasevich leadoff single to right and a Devonte Brown one-out walk in the top of the sixth.
The bottom of the sixth was a quick one as Macko struck out Bericoto to cap a 1-2-3 frame.
Vancouver threatened again in the top of the seventh against Nick Morreale when Sosa singled to center with one out and got to third on a Spain double down the right field line with two outs but both runners were stranded.
Southpaw Cooper Benson was the first reliever out of the pen for the C’s and he struck out Toribio looking for the first out of the bottom of the seventh. Benson walked Arteaga but followed that up with a 5-4-3 inning-ending double play ball from Santos.
There was only one hit in the entire eighth inning. Morreale spun a perfect frame while Benson worked around a Wright leadoff single by striking out Auerbach to finish a string of three men set down in a row.
The C’s were not done adding on as they roughed up Hunter Dula in the top of the ninth. Lin started the rally with an infield single to third and moved to second when Santos booted a Turconi ground ball at second base. De Jesús singled to left with one out to load the bases and Kasevich singled to right with two away to plate Lin and Turconi.
Lefty Ian Churchill set down the side in order with a game-ending called strikeout of Toribio to help Macko improve his record to 2-4.
C-Notes
Vancouver ends the first half with a record of 38-27 and a playoff berth clinched. The C’s finished 4-1/2 games ahead of Eugene, Everett and Tri-City who share identical records of 34-32 for second place. Spokane finished up at 33-32 while Hillsboro looks to turn the page after a 24-42 mark.
The Canadians begin the second half of the season with Rafael Sanchez on the slope. The game is on CanadiansBaseball.com and MiLB.TV at 6:35 p.m. Dahian Santos and Devereaux Harrison are the probable starters for Saturday and Sunday.
C-Tweets
Discover more from C's Plus Baseball | A Vancouver Canadians Blog
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
C's Plus Baseball | A Vancouver Canadians Blog 