The Vancouver Canadians downed the Eugene Emeralds 4-1 at P.K. Park on Saturday.
The C’s tried to get something going against Emeralds starter Jack Choate in the first inning. Dasan Brown flared a single to center with one out but was caught stealing second. Replays on MiLB.TV showed that Brown appeared to be safe on the throw from Adrian Sugastey to shortstop Aeverson Arteaga. Michael Turconi was drilled by Choate and wild-pitched him over to second but the Emeralds lefty would go on to retire the next four hitters in a row to put up a pair of zeros on the scoreboard.
Canadians starter Dahian Santos struck out Grant McCray and Victor Bericoto to bookend a perfect first inning and whiffed Sugastey in a spotless second.
Vancouver had a pair of baserunners against Choate in the top of the third when Jommer Hernández singled to center and Alan Roden singled to right. Hernández tagged up to go to third on a. Brown fly ball to right with two away but the runners on the corners were left stranded.
Dahian Santos struck out Luis Toribio to set down seven in a row before walking Brett Auerbach and surrendering a single to center by Ghordy Santos. However, the C’s righthander got McCray to fly out to left before whiffing Carter Howell to keep the game at 0-0.
The C’s broke through in the fourth against Choate. De Jesús led off with a base hit to left and went to second on a Cade Doughty walk. A one-out base knock to right by Garrett Spain loaded the bases for former Oregon Duck Josh Kasevich. His chopper to short handcuffed Arteaga and the ball appeared to deflect off his face. That allowed De Jesús and Doughty to cross the plate with the game’s first two runs. Arteaga remained in the game but the C’s could not add to their lead as runners were stranded at second and third.
Vancouver would maintain their 2-0 advantage as Dahian Santos struck out Bericoto to begin the bottom of the fourth. Only a walk to Jared Dupere spoiled an otherwise scoreless stanza.
The Emeralds opted to replace Choate with fellow lefty Seth Lonsway in the fifth inning. Brown got aboard on a leadoff single to left field but was picked off by Lonsway on a 1-6 play at second. Turconi and De Jesús worked back-to-back walks before Doughty singled past a diving Arteaga up the middle to drive in Turconi with Vancouver’s number three.
The Canadians also opted to go to the bullpen in the bottom of the fifth as Ryan Boyer entered the game. He whiffed Toribio and appeared to get Auerbach looking at strike three. Auerbach made a move towards the Emeralds first base dugout but home plate umpire Garret Griffin called a ball instead. Auerbach hit a ground-rule double to left and moved to third on a Boyer balk. Boyer made sure that was as far as Auerbach would go as he struck out Ghordy Santos swinging and got McCray to bounce back to the mound to keep Eugene off the board.
The top of the sixth saw Roden double to left off Lonsway with two outs but that was the only hit of the entire frame as Boyer struck out the side in the bottom half. Howell and Bericoto went down swinging and Dupere was caught looking to give Boyer five punchouts on the day.
The C’s would steal a run in the seventh when Turconi marked his 24th birthday with a double to left field to greet Em’s reliever Tanner Kiest. De Jesús drew a walk before Martinez hit a one-out roller in front of the mound. Sugastey pounced on the ball and made the throw to get Martinez but Turconi took off from third and got home safely on a headfirst slide to beat the throw from Bericoto, giving Monty’s Mounties their fourth run.
Kevin Miranda yielded a one-out single to Arteaga in the bottom of the seventh before striking out Toribio and Auerbach.
Lefty Matt Mikulski issued only a two-out walk to Roden in the top of the eighth for the Emeralds before they broke the shutout in the bottom of the inning. Ghordy Santos singled to right off Miranda and made it to third on a throwing error by Turconi. The former Wake Forest Demon Deacon deftly handled a sharp ground ball from McCray for the unassisted putout at first but the throw to second was off the mark and Santos scampered to third. Howell then doubled to left to score Santos with the Emeralds first run. A pair of groundouts to third and short by Bericoto and Dupere got Miranda out of the inning.
The C’s last hit came from Doughty who singled to third off William Kempner in the top of the ninth. A Doughty throwing error at second allowed Sugastey to reach first in the bottom of the ninth but Doughty helped turn a 6-4-3 double play before Matt Svanson struck out Toribio to collect his fourth save. The win went to Boyer who goes to 2-0 on the year.
C-Notes
Dahian Santos enjoyed arguably his best outing of the season. That will come across to some as a strange statement considering he won the Northwest League Pitcher of the Week award for May 22-28 after five shutout innings of three-hit ball in Spokane on May 27, plunking two batters but striking out four. Santos limited the Emeralds allowed just one hit and two walks while striking out six over four shutout innings. However, he was pulled after 65 pitches and he appeared to have some bullets left when you consider his season high was 77 pitches against the Emeralds in a June 3 loss back at the Nat.
Pure speculation on my part but this may have been a case of getting Ryan Boyer some work as he completed two innings for the first time this year after five straight one-inning outings with the C’s. The former University of Pittsburgh-Bradford hurler is still on a rehab assignment with Vancouver and he does not count against their 30-man roster limit. It would not be a surprise if Boyer does not return with the C’s for their home series against Spokane on Tuesday and gets called back to Double-A New Hampshire instead.
It was announced prior to Saturday’s game that righthander Ryan Jennings was placed on the seven-day injured list retroactive to Friday, June 23. Toronto’s fourth-round pick in the 2022 MLB Draft out of Louisiana Tech has made just two starts—both on the road—covering eight innings in which he has struck out nine and walked three to go with a 3.38 earned run average. He took the loss against the Emeralds on Wednesday.
The Canadians and Emeralds complete their six-game series on Sunday. Devereaux Harrison is scheduled to start the finale for Vancouver. Game time is 4:05 p.m. on CanadiansBaseball.com and MiLB.TV.
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