The Vancouver Canadians won Games 1 and 2 of a doubleheader against the Eugene Emeralds by scores of 6-2 and 4-2 at P.K. Park on Saturday.
The C’s grabbed their first lead of the series when Devonte Brown smacked a leadoff home run off the video board in left-center field on a 3-2 pitch off Em’s starter Seth Lonsway. That was Brown’s 14th round-tripper of the year.
The Emeralds would respond in the bottom of the first. After Canadians starter Hunter Gregory struck out Grant McCray looking, Carter Howell got aboard on an error by Josh Kasevich at short as he was handcuffed on a sinking liner. Aeverson Arteaga lined a single to left but was forced out on a 6-4 fielder’s choice by Jared Dupere. Howell got to third on the play and he would make it home on a Luis Toribio single to left. Dupere tried to score the tie-breaking run but Gabby Martinez started a 7-6-2 play that culminated in Kekai Rios tagging out Dupere on the hand just before he got it on the plate to keep the game tied at 1-1. Emeralds manager Carlos Valderrama argued the play but the call was upheld. Valderrama waved Dupere around before throwing up a late stop sign. It appeared that Dupere was running out of gas or did not expect to be waved around. Dupere did not argue the call by home plate umpire Nelson Fraley and walked off the field.
Vancouver grabbed the lead again with a leadoff homer in the second inning, this time by Garrett Spain who belted his 10th of the year to right-center on the first pitch of the inning by Lonsway. Ryan McCarty singled to center with one out but that was the final hit off the frame.
Gregory maintained the lead with a 1-2-3 bottom of the second inning, ending it with a called strike three to Ghordy Santos.
Jeff Wehler was the third Vancouver hitter to take Lonsway a long way out of the park in as many innings. He drilled a leadoff home run that bounced off the top of the right-center field fence and over for his first Northwest League home run to make it 3-1 Vancouver. Devonte Brown reached on a throwing error by Santos at second with one out but was forced out on a Cade Doughty 5-4 fielder’s choice. Doughty went to second on a wild pitch. A walk to Kasevich, a wild pitch and another walk to Spain loaded the bases but Martinez grounded out to second.
In the bottom of the third, Gregory struck out Damon Dues and was able to work around a two-out walk to Howell to keep the Emeralds off the board.
The C’s added to their lead with not another leadoff home run but a two-out rally instead. Wehler walked, went to second on a wild pitch and rumbled home on a Devonte Brown double to the left field wall. That was it for Lonsway as William Kempner entered the game for the Em’s but he allowed Devonte Brown to score on a Dasan Brown base hit to the left field wall to give Vancouver a 5-1 lead.
The bottom of the fourth saw Gregory strike out Dupere looking and Toribio swinging before the Emeralds tried to stage a two-out rally. Onil Perez reached on an infield single to short and Thomas Gavello walked but Santos grounded out to Wehler at first to end the inning.
The C’s had two men on base in the top of the fifth when Spain was grazed on the hip by a Kempner pitch with one out and McCarty drew a two-out walk but a Rios liner to short concluded the frame.
Anders Tolhurst took over for Gregory in the bottom of the fifth. He walked Dues who got to third by stealing twice but also struck out McCray and Howell. Tolhurst got ahead of Arteaga 0-2 before surrendering a base knock to left by Arteaga to pull the Emeralds to within three. The C’s righthander would strike out the side by fanning Dupere.
The C’s went back up by four in the top of the sixth. Devonte Brown hit a ground-rule double to center and gained another 90 feet on a Dasan Brown groundout to first before scoring on a Perez passed ball.
Perez had a one-out single to right against Tolhurst but three fly ball outs later, the game moved on from the bottom of the sixth to the top of the seventh. Kasevich led off with a double to left but he would not get any closer to scoring.
Tolhurst was back out for the bottom of the seventh and saw Matt Higgins reach base on a throwing error by McCarty at second. Howell singled to right with one out but Tolhurst whiffed Arteaga and got Dupere to ground out to first to give the C’s their first win of the series.
Game 2 saw Eugene starter Nick Morreale and Vancouver starter Rafael Sánchez exchange perfect first innings.
The first hit of the game belonged to Ryan McCarty who tripled to left-center field with one out in the top of the second. He got to trot home when Gabby Martinez launched his ninth home run of the season to left-center field to put the C’s up 2-0.
Sánchez struck out Dupere to turn in another spotless frame in the bottom of the second inning.
Garrett Spain worked the count to ball four with two outs in the top of the third and stole second base but was stranded when Cade Doughty struck out.
The Emeralds—going with their Exploding Whales moniker and uniforms in this one—got their first hit against Sánchez when Thomas Gavello singled up the middle but that was sandwiched by strikeouts of Matt Higgins and Carter Williams. Grant McCray grounded out to first on a 3-2 pitch but he did not run down to first as he claimed he fouled the ball off his right foot but the play stood to get Sánchez out of the inning.
The Canadians got back to work in the top of the fourth when Peyton Williams—appearing in his first game of the series—led off by slicing a ground-rule double to left field. McCarty then made the C’s crew feel good with an opposite-field two-run homer to right as his second homer of the year made it 4-0 Vancouver.
The Emeralds tried to rally in the home half of the fourth when Damon Dues doubled to center to begin the inning. That was all Sánchez would surrender as he retired the next three hitters in a row, striking out Carter Howell for out number one and Luis Toribio for out number three.
The bottom of the fifth saw Zach Morgan pop out to C’s second baseman Abiezel Ramirez. However, Morgan and Emeralds skipper Carlos Valderrama were ejected by home plate umpire Robert Ginther for taking umbrage with the arbiter’s strike zone. That fired up the Emeralds offence as Higgins homered to right off Sánchez for their first run of the night. Gavello and Williams followed with base hits to right to put runners on the corners before Gavello got home on a wild pitch to make it a 4-2 game. Sánchez struck out McCray for the second out. After 85 pitches, Sánchez was relieved by Conor Larkin and he ended the inning by getting Dues to fly out to left.
Doughty started the top of the sixth with a single to center off Eugene reliever Eric Silva and found himself at third base. Onil Perez—who replaced Morgan as the catcher—allowing Doughty to get to third after stealing second base when Williams struck out. Doughty would be stranded at third when McCarty grounded out to second and Martinez struck out.
After Larkin fanned Dupere in the middle of a spotless bottom of the sixth, the Emeralds moved Dues from his shortstop position to the mound. He gave up a Ramirez infield single to second with two away for his only misstep.
Larkin would slam the door shut with another perfect stanza, striking out Higgins for the penultimate out as part of a perfect 2-1/3 inning stint to complete the doubleheader sweep.
C-Notes
Anders Tolhurst and Conor Larkin improve to 3-0 and 2-1 respectively as the Canadians reached the 70-win mark with the doubleheader sweep to improve to 70-42. The Emeralds lost 1-1/2 games in the race for second place to the Everett AquaSox who walked off Hillsboro on Friday.
Jeff Wehler was denied the opportunity to play the Eugene Exploding Whales as he sat out Game 2 after playing in Game 1. The Exploding Whales jerseys were to be auctioned off after the game. Saturday’s Game 1 loss was the first time Eugene lost as the Exploding Whales in five games.
The C’s send Pat Gallagher to the hill hoping to secure a series split. The first pitch is at 4:05 p.m. on CanadiansBaseball.com and MiLB.TV.
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