The Vancouver Canadians defeated the Eugene Emeralds 4-2 at Nat Bailey Stadium on Friday.
Canadians starter Kevin Miranda had a three-up, three-down first inning and the offence got to work in the bottom of the first. Alan Roden had the game’s first hit on the second pitch of the game from Emeralds lefty Jack Choate when he punched a single to center field. That extended his hitting streak to 13 games. That was followed by a knock to left by Dasan Brown and Roden was able to score from second with a feet-first slide at the plate on a single up the middle by Michael Turconi. Choate go three outs from two hitters when he struck out Alex De Jesús and got Cade Doughty to hit into a 5-4-3 double play.
Miranda yielded his first hit of the night when Adrian Sugastey doubled down the left field corner with one out in the top of the second inning He got out of the frame by getting Matt Higgins to ground out to first with Devonte Brown showing good range to his right before making the flip to Miranda covering the mound.
Gabby Martinez opened the bottom of the second with a base hit to right off Choate but he would be left at first base.
The Emeralds tied the game in the top of the third when Luis Toribio belted a leadoff homer to right field off Miranda. Brett Auerbach got aboard with a walk before Miranda struck out Grant McCray for the first out. A two-out double by Jared Dupere over the head of Roden in right field got Auerbach over to third but Miranda got a weak tapper on the first base side on a check swing from Sean Roby to start a 1-3 play to end the threat.
The C’s went 3-for-3 in getting the leadoff man aboard when Roden worked the count to ball four. Dasan Brown fouled out on a 3-1 pitch to first with Roby nearly colliding with the catcher Sugastey near the netting for the first out. Turconi hit into a 4-6 fielder’s choice and De Jesús flew out to center for the final two outs.
Miranda got Sugastey to pop out to short on the first pitch in the top of the fourth and fanned Aeverson Arteaga in the second. Higgins extended the stanza with a two-out walk and Toribio also got a free pass. On a 2-2 pitch, Auerbach smoked a double off the left field fence to score Higgins to make it 2-1 Eugene. Conor Larkin entered the game from the Vancouver bullpen and stranded both Miranda runners in scoring position by getting McCray to fly out to left.
The fourth leadoff hitter got on base for Vancouver when Doughty beat out an infield chopper to first as Choate could not cover the bag in time. Choate then stumbled on the mound and was called for a balk to push Doughty to second. Martinez clanged a double off the short left field fence to get Doughty to third. Choate bent but he did not break as he wiggled his way out of trouble by getting the next three men in order. Garrett Spain popped out to first, Devonte Brown struck out looking and Jommer Hernández flew out to right.
Larkin had a 1-2-3 top of the fifth by giving all his outfielders some work by getting Howell, Dupere and Roby to fly out to center, left and right respectively.
Vancouver kept its leadoff on-base streak going into the fifth when Roden singled to right field. He went to second when Roby could not handle a Choate pickoff throw at first. Dasan Brown grounded out to third on a 3-1 pitch and Turconi flew out to left on another 3-1 offering before Choate gave way to Nick Morreale. De Jesús came through with a base hit to center to score Roden standing up to tie the game at 2-2.
De Jesús would make an error at short as his throw pulled Devonte Brown off the first bag to allow Sugastey to reach base to begin the sixth. Sugastey just avoided the swipe tag by Brown to get on base. Larkin then took a comebacker off the right leg from Arteaga which deflected to Doughty at third and his barehand toss was snared by a stretching Devonte Brown at first to complete the highlight 1-5-3 play. A wild pitch moved Sugasety to third but the Eugene catcher held his ground at third when Devonte Brown was handcuffed on a grounder from Higgins to put runners on the corners. Hernández threw out Higgins trying to steal second for a 2-6 putout and Larkin kept Sugastey from scoring by getting Toribio to pop out to second.
The Canadians got another leadoff hitter on base when Martinez singled to right off Morreale in the bottom of the sixth. One out later, Devonte Brown launched one over the roof of the left field porch for his eighth homer of 2023 to put Vancouver back in front 4-2.
Roden flared a single to left wtih two outs and for a moment, it looked like there would be another homer but Dasan Brown’s deep drive to center field died at the warning track for the third out.
Sam Ryan relieved Larkin in the seventh and got two quick outs and nearly had a 1-2-3 frame but Devonte Brown could not hold on to the ball after a low throw from Doughty at third on a ground ball by Howell. Dupere singled to center on a 1-2 pitch and the two runners went 90 feet on a wild pitch but Roby hit a sinking liner to De Jesus at short to end the entrada.
Vancouver went down in order for the first time in the seventh thanks to Morreale. The top of the eighth opened with Sugastey single to center off Ryan. Arteaga struck out swinging and Ryan knocked down a comebacker from Higgins and started a 1-3 putout that put Sugastey at second. Toribio had home run distance on a ball that just went foul down the left field line. Toribio sent another fly ball deep to the left field corner but it stayed in play for Martinez to run under it and make the catch for out number three.
Martinez began the bottom of the eight with a single to center off Mat Olsen and stole second base. Hernandez worked a two-out walk but Olsen got Roden to fly out to right.
Matt Svanson subbed in for the bottom of the ninth and struck out Auerbach and McCray before Howell singled to right on a 1-2 pitch. Svanson would strike out the side swinging by getting Dupere for his sixth save. Larkin picked up the win in relief to improve his record to 1-1. Ryan was credited with his first hold.
C-Notes
The C’s upped their second-half record to 11-6 and their overall mark to 49-32. The first-half champion Canadians hold a two-game lead over Everett for top spot in the second half. Spokane is three games back and Eugene is four off the pace.
Michael Dominguez gets the start for the Canadians on Saturday at 7:05 p.m. and Devereaux Harrison is scheduled to start the series finale on Sunday at 1:05 p.m. Both games are on CanadiansBaseball.com and MiLB.TV.
C-Changes
The C’s activated Josh Kasevich from the injured list priot to Friday’s game. The 2022 Blue Jays second-rounder from Oregon hurt himself running to first base in the series finale at Eugene last month.
Reliever Ryan Boyer is back with the C’s after a brief call-up to Triple-A Buffalo. He pitched 1-1/3 innings for the Herd eight days ago in Rochester.
The Blue Jays have released 2023 C’s catcher Karl Ellison according to the transactions page at CanadiansBaseball.com. The 28-year-old Cincinnati native also saw time with Double-A New Hampshire and Triple-A Buffalo. He batted .225 in a dozen games with Vancouver and knocked in four runs. All the best to the former Vanderbilt Commodore in his future endeavours.
Lost in the flurry of transactions made recently by the Toronto Blue Jays was their release of 2021 C’s outfielder Zac Cook. That happened this past Sunday according to the transactions page. The Blue jays signed the Simi Valley, California native as a free agent on June 25, 2020 out of Texas-Arlington. He began his pro career in 2021 with the Dunedin Blue Jays before getting the promotion to Vancouver/Hillsboro and that’s where he enjoyed his greatest success as a pro. slashing .269/.370/.531 with 16 doubles, one triple and eight home runs with 29 runs batted in over 48 games. Cook could not match that performance with Double-A New Hampshire in 2022 and 2023 as he batted below .200 both years. He also had two separate stints on the Development List this year. All the best to Zac Cook in his future endeavours.
Two Vancouver Canadians managers took part in Monday’s Home Run Derby in Seattle. 2011, 2014 and 2015 skipper John Schneider and 2012-2013 bench boss Clayton McCullough threw the pitches for Blue jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts respectively. Vladdy went on to win the event at T-Mobile Park.
Radar Gun Rundown
Miranda was around 79-91 miles per hour and had a strikeout at 82. Larkin checked in at 81-94. Ryan had a strikeout at 84 and was up to 94. Svanson had strikeouts at 85 and 95 and was up to 96.
C-Tweets
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