The Vancouver Canadians rallied to knock off the Eugene Emeralds 5-4 at Nat Bailey Stadium on Saturday.
The Canadians were first on the scoreboard in the top of the second inning against Emeralds starter Dylan Carmouche. A one-out walk to Jay Harry moved to second on a single to right field by Nic Deschamps and Marcos De La Rosa followed that up with a base hit to left to score Harry.
The Emeralds got to C’s starter Grant Rogers in the fourth. Rodolfo Nolasco led off with a walk and Luke Shliger singled to right before Rogers struck out Jonah Cox. A Cole Foster single to right loaded the bases and that set up a two-out knock to left by Scott Bandura to score Nolasco and Shliger to give Eugene a 2-1 lead. Rogers limited the damage when Quinn McDaniel lined into a 6-4 double play to get Foster at second.
The Em’s added to their lead in the sixth. Rogers started the inning by fanning Nolasco before Shliger swatted a one-out solo homer to right off Rogers. Cox doubled to center field before Rogers struck out Foster who had fouled a ball off his right knee before that. He gutted out the at-bat but limped off to the Emeralds dugout where he would be replaced by Thomas Gavello at short. Bandura knocked him his third run of the night with a base hit up the middle to score Cox with the Emeralds fourth run. Bo Bonds was brought in to relieve Rogers and threw a called strike to McDaniel before Deschamps threw out Bandura at second for a 2-4 caught stealing to end the inning.
The Canadians would fight back in the sixth against Em’s reliever Tommy Kane. A one-out walk to Brennan Orf, a Harry single to center and a Deschamp walk loaded the bases. The C’s admittedly caught a break when Deschamps went around on an 0-1 pitch from Kane but home plate umpire Davion Frye did not think so. That proved beneficial when Kane did get ahead at 1-2 but his next three pitches missed the strike zone. Up stepped Adrian Pinto with two outs and he punished the first pitch he saw from Kane into the seats in left field to catapult the Canadians from a three-run deficit to a one-run lead.
The Emeralds got a one-out base knock to left by Bryce Eldridge in the top of the seventh but that was all Bonds would allow after beginning the frame with a called strikeout of McDaniel.
Bonds was able to steamroll his way through the eighth by striking out the side with Nolasco and Cox goingn down swinging and Shliger caught looking in between.
Lefthander Kai Peterson took over in the ninth with the C’s shuffling the deck on the defensive end. Cutter Coffey—who pinch-hit for De La Rosa in the eighth—entered the game at third base. Nick Goodwin moved from third to short while Harry left the six-spot for the four-spot at second base. Gavello began the inning with a leadoff walk before Peterson struck out Bandura looking. Gavello was able to swipe second despite a perfect throw by Deschamps. It was a close play but it appeared Gavello got his hand on the second base bag before the tag by Harry. The call left Harry in disbelief and C’s manager Brent Lavallee argued the play, leading to his ejection. Peterson was able to bear down and strike out McDaniel swinging to set up a showdown with Eldridge. Peterson came out on top by striking out the San Francisco Giants 2023 first-round pick to pick up the save.
C-Notes
Rogers worked around a trio of two-out rallies in the first two innings. In the first, he struck out McDaniel before Eldrige ripped a triple off the center field wall. A Sabin Ceballos pop out to short left Eldrige at third.
The second inning saw the Em’s get another two-out extra base hit when Shliger doubled to the warning track in center. Cox worked a walk before Foster grounded out to second.
Rogers got McDaniels looking in the third before an Eldridge walk and a Ceballos single to second in which De La Rosa lost his balance trying to charge the ground ball. The inning ended on a Charlie Szykowny line out to center. The only clean inning of the night for Rogers came in the fifth.
The C’s got their first two hits in the first when Victor Arias singled to left with one out and Jace Bohrofen singled to right with two outs but they were left stranded.
Vancouver had two more baserunners in the third when Arias walked and Peyton Williams smashed a single to right off the bat at 107 miles per hour. to extend his hitting streak. Unfortunately, the C’s could not put another ball into play as Carmouche struck out the side.
Pinto had a leadoff double to left in the fifth but only made it as far as third when Williams grounded out to second.
Carson Pierce starts the series and homestand finale at 1:05 p.m. on Sunday. The game is on CanadiansBaseball.com and MiLB.TV.
Radar Gun Rundown
Grant Rogers had strikeouts at 84, 84, 90, 90, 82 and 81 miles per hour and was up to 92. Bo Bonds had Ks of 82, 84, 83 and 93 and was up to 94. Kai Peterson had two Ks at 93 and 94 and was up to 97.
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