A lost weekend for the Vancouver Canadians has put them below the .500 mark after dropping four of six to the Eugene Emeralds at Nat Bailey Stadium.
April 15 – Eugene 11 Vancouver 8
2B – Nimmala (4), Arias (4), Cunningham (1), 3B – Harry (1). Peterson 1.1IP 0R 3K
April 16 – Vancouver 5 Eugene 2
HR – Parker (1). SB – Arias (4), Ward (2), Coffey (1), Parker (1), Goodwin. Rogers 5IP 1R 6 (W, 1-0), Carter (H, 1), Bonds (SV, 1)
April 17 – Vancouver 13 Eugene 5
HR – Coffey (2), 2B – Cunningham (2), Arias (5). Wentworth 4.2IP 2R 8K, Garkow 2.2IP 0R 6K (W, 1-0).
April 18 – Eugene 5 Vancouver 3
HR – Arias (1), 2B – Parker (3). Sánchez 2.1IP 0R 2K 1/1RS
April 19 – Eugene 5 Vancouver 2
Peterson 2IP 0R 3K
April 20 – Eugene 8 Vancouver 3
2B – Parker (4), SB – Wetzel (1). Yeager 2IP 0R 2K, Ortiz 2IP 0R 3K
C-Notes
Tuesday’s home opener was cold, long and frustrating as the C’s offence could not keep up with Eugene. All nine C’s hitters got on base at least once. Arjun Nimmala doubled in his first at-bat at The Nat as part of a three-run inning. The C’s held leads of 3-0 and 7-4 but the pitching staff walked 10 batters as the game took three hours and 24 minutes to play.
On Wednesday, Aaron Parker belted the first home run for Vancouver at home. He also later showed some nice hustle racing to second after a two-base error by Eugene shortstop Zane Zielenski. Parker would later steal home on a double steal with Je’Von Ward swiping second.
Eugene second baseman Thomas Gavello reached the roof top of the Vancouver Gymnasium Center with his home run to right field on Wednesday. According to Emeralds play-by-play announcer Jacob Archer, the ball travelled 408 feet. The last time anyone reached the roof was the Emeralds Damon Dues in 2023 with former Vancouver Canadians pitcher Tom Candiotti in the house. Vancouver’s Art Charles turned the trick back in 2012.
Thursday’s game was closer than the final score appeared. Carter Cunningham did a nice job scooping a two-hop throw from Nick Goodwin to end a two-run Emeralds rally in the fifth. Jay Harry then made a leaping grab at second base on a liner by Onil Perez to end another two-run Eugene uprising and leave the bases loaded in the sixth.
Nate Garkow picked up his first Northwest League victory thanks in part to a seventh inning in which he struck out the side and an eighth inning in which he fanned two more.
That was the high point as it was all losses for Vancouver from here on out. The first early sign it was not going to be an Easter weekend to remember was Eddie Micheletti nearly making a diving catch in left field in the first inning on Friday, but it resulted in an RBI double for Charlie Szykowny for the first run of the game against Juaron Watts-Brown.
The baserunning was not on point on Friday. Nimmala was thrown out on a 3-6-3 double play off the bat of Victor Arias after getting a late jump off of first base in the first inning. Arias tried to score on a wild pitch in the sixth but the ball caromed off the backstop right to Eugene catcher Luke Schliger and he was able to tag our Arias. Parker—whose RBI double finally got the C’s on the board in the sixth—got to third on the wild pitch but he was then tagged out after straying too far off the bag on a ground ball to third. That allowed Emeralds third baseman Cole Foster to start a 5-3 inning-ending double play.
Jackson Hornung finally saw his first action of the season on Friday, getting a broken-bat single in the fifth inning and drawing a walk in the sixth. He began the year on the Development List. Being an NWL All-Star and leading the C’s in hits last year does not go as far as you would expect these days.
On Saturday, Kevin Miranda got his first start of the season and was on the verge of completing three shutout innings after beginning the frame with two of his four strikeouts and had James Tibbs III in a headlock at no balls and two strikes. Unfortunately, Tibbs worked a walk, went to second on a wild pitch and scored on a single by Jonah Cox to open the scoring. Cox swiped second and third and scored on a wild pitch and Eugene would never trail again.
The C’s found out why Shane Rademacher was the reigning Northwest League Pitcher of the Week last week as the Emeralds starter retired all 15 men he faced. It was only until Esmerlin Vinicio entered the game when Vancouver got a base knock courtesy of Nick Goodwin to start the sixth inning. Not surprisingly, Rademacher defended his Pitcher of the Week title for a second straight time.
Je’Von Ward singled home both Vancouver runs in the seventh and drew a walk to load the bases in the ninth after Sean Keys walked and Adrian Pinto got aboard on an infield single but the bags were left loaded when Brayan Palencia relieved Vinicio and got Goodwin to ground out.
On Sunday, Fernando Perez did not have it as he could not retire any of the five men he faced. He walked three, gave up a hit and hit Zane Zielinski in the back with his 28th pitch. That eventually led to four runs in the first.
The offence tried to get Perez off the hook with a three-run first thanks to an RBI single by Cutter Coffey and an RBI double from Parker. With runners at second and third and one out, Vancouver could only push one more run across on a Jacob Wetzel fielder’s choice. That was it for the offence.
Edison Batista—promoted from Low-A Dunedin before Sunday’s game—made his debut and only got one out in the fourth inning. He plunked Szykowny and Zielenski, eventually being charged with three runs. Batista was acquired from the Houston Astros recently in a trade that sent fellow righty to the Lone Star State.
Zielinski earned the HBP hat trick when Julio Ortiz also drilled him but the Em’s shortstop was not the only one to get an unwelcome bruise. Luke Schliger sprung up from his crouch behind home plate and into the bat of Arias who was bringing his bat down in between pitches. Arias had no idea Schliger was trying to head to the mound for a visit in the seventh inning.
The Canadians debuted their Lumberjack jerseys on Saturday and that was the only time they wore a red uniform during the Opening Homestand, opting not to wear their regular reds. The retro blues and whites were both worn twice and the black jersey was worn once.
Grant Rogers will get the start for Vancouver for its six-game series in Everett on Tuesday. All games will be on CanadiansBaseball.com and BallySports.com. The first pitch for Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday is at 7:05 pm. Thursday’s game starts at 12:05 pm and the series finale is at 4:05 pm on Sunday.
Congratulations to Victor Arias for winning the Northwest League Player of the Week award. The 21-year-old from Maracay, Venezuela batted .400 in 20 at-bats and hit his first homer of the season. Arias is on a nine-game hitting streak.
Also, congratulations to 2024 Vancouver Canadian Jace Bohrofen for winning the Eastern League’s POW for April 14-20 by homering four times, driving in nine runs and putting up a 1.201 OPS for the Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats.
Radar Gun Rundown
The radar gun had the night off on Tuesday so here are some of the velocities from the homestand.
- Juaron Watts-Brown had strikeouts of 92, 94, 87, 94 and 87 miles per hour and was at 81-95.
- Aaron Munson had whiffs of 93 and 97.
- JJ Sanchez‘s Ks were at 82 and 94
- Nate Garkow had whiffs of 79, 74, 85, 77, 88 and 77 and touched 92.
- Irv Carter had Ks of 83, 87 and touched 94 and 94.
- Edison Batista had a strikeout at 80 and was up to 94.
- Pat Gallagher had one punchout at 84.
- Kevin Miranda had Ks of 89, 77, 88 and 83.
- Kai Peterson checked in with Ks of 82, 81 and 93.
- Fernando Perez was at 79 to 94.
- Bo Bonds was at 76 with one punchout at 90.
- Chay Yeager was up to 97 and had punchouts of 96 and 90
- Jackson Wentworth registered strikeouts of 93, 87, 84, 86, 85, 81, and 85.
C-Changes
Lefthander Connor O’Halloran is on the seven-day injured list after leaving last Sunday’s game in Spokane with what appeared to be an elbow injury. Edinson Batista was called up from Low-A Dunedin after three appearances. He has been assigned number 39.
Infielder Carter Cunningham has been placed on the Development List where he joins catcher Hayden Gilliland, who is still waiting to make his C’s debut.
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