The Vancouver Canadians lost 8-1 to the Eugene Emeralds at Nat Bailey Stadium.
The Emeralds used their short game to take the early lead against Canadians starter Adam Macko. Grant McCray dropped down a bunt down to first on the game’s first pitch and Carter Howell followed suit on the second pitch with a bunt to the mound. Victor Bericoto showed bunt on the first pitch he saw but would beat out an infield chopper too short to load the bases. Logan Wyatt bounced into a 1-2-3 double play but Macko committed a balk to allow McCray to score the game’s first run. Macko then struck out Adrian Sugastey for the third out.
Eugene was poised for a rally in the second when Aerverson Arteaga singled to right field and Ghordy Santos singled to third. Arteaga advanced to third on a throwing error by Alex De Jesús. Macko would strike out Max Wright and Edison Mora before getting McCray on a fielder’s choice at short.
Macko stranded a one-out walk to Bericoto in the third, a two-out base hit to right by Wright in the fourth and a one-out single to short by Howell. The Vancouver lefty struck out McCray to start the fifth. Despite Howell getting an infield single to short and Bericoto getting a base hit to left, Macko would retire the final two men he faced, including making a diving catch on a pop-up from Sugastey in front of the mound to end his outing.
The Vancouver offence was baffled by Eugene starter Carson Whisenhunt. The lefty allowed just a Garrett Spain infield single to third that went off the glove of Mora at third. Spain would steal second base but it would not matter as Whisenhunt struck out the side not only in the third but the fourth as well. He whiffed seven in a row before De Jesús put a ball into play with one out in the fifth. Unfortunately, Spain lined it into the glove of Whisenhunt who finished with five shutout innings of one-hit ball. It’s safe to say the former East Carolina Pirate is the clubhouse leader for next week’s Northwest League Pitcher of the Week award.
Kevin Miranda made his Nat Bailey Stadium debut with a clean sixth inning for the C’s but José Cruz did likewise in the sixth after relieving Whisenhunt.
The Emeralds added insurance against Miranda in the seventh when McCray singled to right and Howell doubled to left to put two men on. Bericoto’s sac fly to center scored McCray to make it 2-0 Eugene. The inning ended on a deep fly ball to right by Wyatt with Alan Roden’s back against the wall before making the catch.
Cruz struck out the side in the seventh before the Emeralds put the game away in the eighth against Cooper Benson. The uprising began with a one-out single to center by Arteaga before Santos walked and Wright was hit by a pitch in the back to load the bases. Benson threw eight consecutive pitches that resulted in run-scoring walks by Mora and McCray. The former Arizona State lefty threw a first-pitch strike to Howell but surrendered a bases-clearing triple to right on the next pitch to make it 7-0 Eugene. Sam Ryan relieved Benson and gave up a run-scoring ground out too short to give the Em’s a two-point convert on the touchdown. Ryan gave up a single to center by Wyatt before getting out of the jam thanks to Cade Doughty who made a diving stop on a Sugastey ground ball at second and was able to heave a throw just in time to complete the 4-3 putout.
The C’s would crack the goose egg in the eighth inning against Hunter Dula. Gabby Martinez singled to right and De Jesús walked to put the first two men on base. Dula balked to move the runners ahead 90 feet before a sacrifice fly to right by Josh Kasevich scored Martinez.
Ryan completed a clean ninth inning with a strikeout of Wright. Tyler Myrick took the ball for the Emeralds in the bottom of the ninth and only allowed a Dasan Brown base knock to center with one out.
C-Notes
The C’s fall to 25-21 and are now tied with Spokane for first place in the Northwest League. The Canadians face the Emeralds in the third game of this six-game set on Thursday. Tyler Zickel will have the call on CanadiansBaseball.com and MiLB.TV at 7:05 p.m. Trenton Wallace will throw the first pitch for Vancouver. Rafael Sanchez and Dahian Santos are lined up for Friday and Saturday for the C’s.
Alan Roden went 0-for-4 and that ended his 25-game on-base streak. Whisenhunt broke Roden’s bat with his first pitch and that resulted in a ground out to first. He was unable to beat out a ground ball to short in his final at-bat.
Kevin Miranda is now wearing number 17 for the C’s. He was originally assigned number 12.
Radar Gun Rundown
Macko had strikeouts of 75, 83, 94, 80 and 82 miles per hour and was at 74 and 96. Mirando was at 78 and 92 with a strikeout at 90. Benson clocked in at 79-93 and Ryan had a strikeout at 95.
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