The Vancouver Canadians held on for a 3-2 win over the Eugene Emeralds at Nat Bailey Stadium on Friday.
All of the Vancouver runs came in the first against Eugene starter Tyler Vogel. A leadoff single to center field by Victor Arias was forced out on a Jackson Hornung 6-4 fielder’s choice but Arias’ hustle sliding into second prevented Emeralds second baseman Thomas Gavello from making the throw to first.
Two wild pitches sandwiched a Peyton Williams walk and Je’Von Ward delivered a base hit to right drove in Hornung for the game’s first run. Ward joined Williams in scoring position by stealing second base and both of them scored on a Jace Bohrofen base knock to center. Ward was able to beat the tag of Em’s catcher Onil Perez with a headfirst slide to put Vancouver up 3-0.
Eugene’s first run came when Charlie Szykowny slammed the first pitch of the fourth from Vancouver starter Kendry Rojas over the wall in center field for a home run.
The Emeralds mounted a rally in the ninth against Grayson Thurman. A leadoff single to center by Jonah Cox and a walk to Szykowny got the tying runs on base. Thurman struck out Rodolfo Nolasco but walked Sabin Ceballos to load the bases. Perez produced a sacrifice fly to center to bring in Cox with Eugene’s second run. Two pitches later, Thurman retired Vaun Brown on a fly ball to right to save the victory for Rojas.
C-Notes
Rojas was dialled in as he ended a perfect first inning by getting Szykowny looking at strike three and bookended the second with punchouts of Nolasco swinging and Brown looking to strand a Ceballos single to center.
The Cuban lefty worked around a two-out single to right by Scott Bandura in the fourth before striking out the side in the fifth by fanning Brown, Cole Foster and Thomas Gavello.
The sixth inning began with Rojas striking out Bandura for a 1-2-3 frame. In the seventh, Ceballos walked with one out but Rojas left him there by striking out Brown for his 10th K of the day.
Chay Yeager earned the hold by facing the minimum in the eighth. Gavello singled to right with one out before Cox hit into an unassisted double play as Williams beat Gavello back to the first base bag just in time. The inning lasted all of four pitches.
Vancouver made a few defensive changes to preserve the lead in the ninth. Nick Goodwin entered the game at short, Jay Harry moved from short to second, De La Rosa went from second to center field and Arias moved from center to left, taking Hornung out of the game.
The C’s were in position to pad their lead in the bottom of the fourth inning. Bohrofen singled to left and Coffey walked with nobody out. Trent Harris fell behind Jacob Sharp at 3-0 but rallied to get Sharp and retire the next two hitters to get out of the inning.
Ward had a bunt single to the mound to start the sixth but Harris sat down the next three men in order.
De La Rosa also bunted his way aboard with one away in the seventh and moved up to second on a wild pitch but Em’s reliever Daniel Blair did not give up anything else.
Williams greeted Cam Cotter with a base hit to left in the eighth for Vancouver’s final hit of the day.
Grant Rogers will get the ball for Vancouver against Eugene on Saturday. Game time at Nat Bailey Stadium is 7:05 p.m.
Radar Gun Rundown
Kendry Rojas had strikeouts of 84, 84, 94. 86, 95, 87, 89 and 86 miles per hour and was up to 96. Chay Yeager was at 86-97. Grayson Thurman had a strikeout at 85.
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