The Vancouver Canadians were outslugged 10-7 by the Eugene Emeralds at Nat Bailey Stadium on Wednesday.
The Emeralds got down to business with a leadoff walk by Aeverson Arteaga and a one-out home run by Sabin Ceballos into the left field bullpen off Vancouver starter Juaron Watts-Brown. That homer was bracketed by strikeouts of James Tibbs III looking and Charlie Szykowny swinging but Quinn McDaniel and Scott Banduras hit back-to-back jacks to right-center and center field respectively to make it 4-0 Eugene.
The Em’s poured it on in the second after Jack Payton struck out looking to begin the inning. Thomas Gavello singled to left before Tibbs took Watts-Brown deep to left-center to put the Green Giants up by six. Ceballos walked and rambled to third on a Szykowny single to right before scoring on a wild pitch.
Vancouver broke through against Eugene starter Manuel Mercedes in the fourth. Jacob Sharp started the frame with a bloop single to right and trotted home on a Je’Von Ward home run to left-center.
The Emeralds scored again in the fifth. McDaniel worked a leadoff walk and was forced out on a Bandura 5-4 fielder’s choice in which Cutter Coffey made a nice pick at the hot corner. Irv Carter relieved Watts-Brown and got Luke Shliger to bounce back to the mound but Payton then punched a double to the left field corner to score Bandura.
The C’s cut into the Em’s lead in the home half of the fifth. Ward started the stanza with a base on balls and went to second on an errant pickoff throw by Mercedes. Peyton Williams lifted a fly ball to center that McDaniel lost in the lights, allowing Ward to come home. A wild pitch and a sacrifice fly to center by Jackson Hornung that brough in Williams left the C’s trailing 8-4. A two-out double to right by Jay Harry led to Eugene changing pitchers. Mikell Manzano left Harry at second by fanning Brennan Orf.
Eugene would get to Aaron Munson in the seventh as a pair of walks to McDaniel and Bandura would come in to score. McDaniel—who stole second before Bandura’s base on balls—came home on a Shliger single to center and Payton got Bandura home with a sac fly to center for Eugene’s 10th run.
Two straight doubles got the C’s on the board in the eighth against Cody Tucker. Orf and Nick Goodwin had extra-baggers off the right field wall to cash in Orf. Jace Bohrofen singled to right to drive in Goodwin and a throwing error by Tibbs gave Bohrofen second base. Ward then lined a single to left to score Bohrofen to chase Tucker from the game. Matt Frisbee would stop the rally by whiffing Williams and retiring Hornung on a fly ball to right.
Vancouver opened the ninth with a Coffey bloop single to right and a Harry infield single to second that Gavello could not hold on to ranging to his right. Frisbee closed the door after that by striking out Orf, getting Goodwin to pop out to second and Sharp to ground out to third.
C-Notes
The C’s had multiple chances to score. Bohrofen singled to center in the first inning but was caught in no man’s land between first and second when a Ward liner was dropped by Arteaga at short. Ward would reach on a 6-4 fielder’s choice. Williams got Ward over to second with a single up the gut but Hornung hit into a 6-4-3 double play.
Coffey walked and Harry singled to right to begin the bottom of the second but an Orf 4-6-3 twin-killing and a Goodwin fly out to left squelched that rally.
A one-out base hit by Orf in the fourth moved to second on a Shliger passed ball and Goodwin reached base on a Payton fielding error at first. The runners were stranded when Sharp struck out and Bohrofen grounded out to first.
Sharp singled to left with one out in the sixth and Coffey had a base knock to right in the seventh but made it no further.
Watts-Brown recovered to put up goose eggs in the third and fourth innings. He worked around a two-out Gavello free pass in the third before striking out the side in the fourth, getting Tibbs and Szykowny swinging and Ceballos looking in between.
Carter struck out Arteaga to start the top of the sixth and worked around a Ceballos base hit to right field and a throwing error on a pickoff by getting Szykowny to fly out to right.
Chay Yeager overcame a Tibbs one-out walk in the eighth but he loaded the bases with three more free passes to McDaniel, Bandura and Payton. In between, McDaniel stole second base and third base as part of a double steal and Shliger struck out. JJ Sánchez kept the bags loaded by striking out Gavello looking and Arteaga swinging to give the C’s a fighting chance to rally in the bottom of the ninth.
The magic number for the C’s to reach the Northwest League Championship Series for the third straight year is down to one. Tri-City did Vancouver another solid by downing the Hillsboro Hops 5-2 at Gesa Stadium on Wednesday. Any C’s victory or Hops loss will send Monty’s Mounties to the postseason for a chance to defend their title from 2023.
Connor O’Halloran gets the call on the mound for the Canadians against the Emeralds on Thursday in another 7:05 pm start at Nat Bailey Stadium. The game is on CanadiansBaseball.com and MiLB.TV. Tyler Zickel will be joined in the booth by longtime C’s broadcaster Rob Fai as Rob will be filling in for Tyler for the rest of the series against Eugene.
Radar Gun Rundown
Juaron Watts-Brown was at 78-94 miles per hour with strikeouts of 86, 93, 83, 79 and 81. Irv Carter was at 84-94 with a strikeout of 88. Aaron Munson was clocked at 86 and 91. Chay Yeager was at 84-97 with a K of 95. JJ Sánchez was at 81-94 with whiffs of 84 and 82.
C-Tweets
Discover more from C's Plus Baseball | A Vancouver Canadians Blog
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
C's Plus Baseball | A Vancouver Canadians Blog 