Emerald City Stays Uninhabitable For C's In Loss
EUGENE, OR – Missed opportunities and a self-inflicted wound in the bottom of the fifth handed the Canadians their fifth consecutive loss against the Eugene Emeralds (Giants) Saturday at PK Park, a 3-0 blanking that saw the C’s out-hit the Ems for the second time in a loss this week.
EUGENE, OR – Missed opportunities and a self-inflicted wound in the bottom of the fifth handed the Canadians their fifth consecutive loss against the Eugene Emeralds (Giants) Saturday at PK Park, a 3-0 blanking that saw the C’s out-hit the Ems for the second time in a loss this week. Vancouver is now 2.5 games out of first place in the second half and a game out of a playoff position as of this writing.
Trenton Wallace (L, 0-1) was terrific for the first four innings of his start – he issued two free passes and allowed one hit with four Ks – but the wheels fell off in the fifth. He walked the first two batters on a combined ten pitches then, when asking for a new baseball from the umpire, threw the ball away and into the dugout thinking that time had been called. It had not, and the ball toss turned into an error that allowed the first run of the game to score. He struck out the next hitter but walked his third man of the inning in the next plate appearance and was pulled from the game in favor or Eric Pardinho, who surrendered a two-RBI triple to Luis Matos that made it 3-0.
On offense, the C’s loaded the bases with two outs in the first but failed to score and had single runners aboard in each inning from the second through the fifth but could not make anything happen. The finished the day 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position and were shutout for the second time in their last 11 games after going 29 second half games with at least one run.
Naswell Paulino worked two innings of scoreless relief in the seventh and the eighth to limit any further damage and the C’s got a double from #7 Blue Jays prospect Gabby Martinez in the ninth – the second of his two hits on the day – but stranded him at third to end the game.
Vancouver had never lost more than four in a row this season, but they have now been felled in five straight and are in danger of joining the Hillsboro Hops (Diamondbacks) as the only Northwest League teams to get swept this season. The C’s will send lefty Jimmy Robbins to the mound on Sunday to try and stop the bleeding opposite Eugene’s Nick Zwack. First pitch is set for 4:05 p.m. and can be heard live on CanadiansBaseball.com and Sportsnet 650.