The Vancouver Canadians were shut out in the run and hit columns in a 5-0 loss to the Eugene Emeralds at P.K. Park on Wednesday.
The game was won in the bottom of the first when Chris McElvaine gave up a two-out home run to Scott Bandura to right-center field in the bottom of the first. McElvain was one strike away from striking out the side after whiffing Diego Velasquez and Quinn McDaniel.
The Emeralds tacked on a run over four different innings. An Andrew Kachel walk and a Velasquez single put runners on the corners with one out in the third inning. Jommer Hernández threw out Velasquez at second on a 2-4 play but Rachel came in to score to make it 2-0 Em’s.
A Matt Higgins homer to right-center off McElvain with two outs in the fourth upped the Eugene lead to three.
McElvain exited the game after a leadoff walk to Kachel in the fourth. On Grayson Thurman’s watch, Kachel stole second, went to third on a fly ball to center by Velasquez and scored on a base hit up the middle by McDaniel.
The Emeralds final run came against Conor Larkin in the seventh. Leadoff walks to Justin Wishkoski and Kachel moved up a base on a Hernández passed ball. A McDaniel one-out grounder to short brought in Wishkoski.
C-Notes
Hernández was the first base runner of the evening for Vancouver with a two-out walk in the third inning against Eugene starter Dylan Cumming. The only meaningful contact over the first three innings was a Dasan Brown line out to short to end that innings.
Two-out walks to Brennan Orf and Ryan McCarty in the fifth and sixth respectively were issued by Nick Sinacola. McCarty got to second on a Zach Morgan passed ball but that was it in the middle innings.
Jeff Wehler was hit by a pitch that bounced in the dirt by Seth Corry with one out in the seventh.
A wild pitch put Wehler at second but that was as far as he got.
The only time Vancouver had two runners on base came in the eighth when Hernández and Brown drew one-out walks but they would go no further.
Corry finished up the no-hitter with a perfect ninth. Corry, Sinacola and Cumming each struck out four batters over their three shutout frames.
Johnathan Lavallee turned in a perfect sixth inning that started with a strikeout of Thomas Gavello. Lefty Naswell Paulino stranded a runner and got the final four outs, striking out Bandura to end the seventh and Matt Higgins in the eighth to overcome an Onil Perez leadoff walk.
Congratulations to Canadians infielder Ryan McCarty for winning the Northwest League Player of the Week award for April 8-14. The former Penn State Abington product was 8-for-19 with a .421 batting average with six extra-base hits, including two home runs, 10 runs batted in and two stolen bases. Over the weekend, he hit a pair of three-run homers, a game-tying two-run double and scored the winning run on Sunday to cap off a walkoff win and a five-of-six series win over Hillsboro at The Nat. McCarty is the first position player to win the NWL Player of the Week award since Davis Schneider did it in 2022.
Catcher Kekai Rios has been placed on the seven-day injured list retroactive to April 16. The former Milwaukee Brewers farmhand was hurt on a feet-first slide at second base trying to break up a double play during Game 2 of Friday’s doubleheader against Hillsboro.
Outfielder Roque Salinas—who is on the roster but has not played for the C’s yet—has been sent to Low-A Dunedin for a rehab assignment. Pitchers Leam Mendez and Lazaro Estrada and infielder Adrian Pinto are still on the seven-day IL while righthander Dahian Santos and first baseman Peyton Williams are on the 60-day list.
The Canadians and Emeralds play again on Thursday with lefty Kendry Rojas on the slope for Vancouver. Game time is 7:05 p.m. at P.K. Park. Tyler Zickel will have the call on CanadiansBaseball.com. The game is also available on MiLB.TV.
The C’s have listed Geison Urbaez and Ryan Jennings as the probable starters for Friday and Game 1 of Saturday’s doubleheader.
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