Nightmarish Eighth Leads To Fourth Straight Loss
EUGENE, OR – A six-run bottom of the eighth erased a 4-1 Canadians lead and handed the Eugene Emeralds (Giants) a 7-4 win at PK Park Friday night. The loss was Vancouver’s fourth straight, which means they have lost the series this week and are now a second half-worst two
EUGENE, OR – A six-run bottom of the eighth erased a 4-1 Canadians lead and handed the Eugene Emeralds (Giants) a 7-4 win at PK Park Friday night. The loss was Vancouver’s fourth straight, which means they have lost the series this week and are now a second half-worst two and a half games out of first place.
Eugene scored an early run on a Luis Toribio homer off #6 Blue Jays prospect Sem Robberse in the second, but the right-hander was otherwise excellent. He limited the highest-scoring offense in the league to one run on two hits with a walk and four strikeouts over five innings of work. Robberse passed the torch to Matt Svanson, who put up a zero in the sixth to keep it a 1-0 Ems advantage.
Emeralds starter Nick Swiney – the #17 Giants prospect – went through five perfect innings before Brett Standlee retired the side in sixth, but Vancouver roared to life in the top of the seventh. A one-out walk to #8 Blue Jays prospect Alex De Jesus stopped perfection, Damiano Palmegiani was hit by a pitch and Rainer Nunez singled home a run to end the no-hitter, spoil the shutout and tie the game 1-1. After a pitching change, Riley Tirotta clubbed a go-ahead three-run home run to make it 4-1 Vancouver.
6th round draft pick from this year TJ Brock made his High-A debut with a 1-2-3 seventh, but it all came crashing down in the eighth. Connor Cooke (L, 0-1) allowed two singles to start the inning before a pop out. Carter Williams bounced one to shortstop that could have been a double play but took an odd hop and got into centerfield for an RBI single that cut the C’s lead to two. Up stepped reigning Northwest League Player of the Week Jairo Pomares, who lofted a towering drive to right field that just left the ballpark for a go-ahead three-run homer that put Eugene in front 5-4. A single followed, and after a strikeout Toribio hit his second jack of the day to run the score to 7-4 before infielder Hugo Cardona was called upon to get the last out of the inning.
A single, an error and a walk in the top of the ninth loaded the bases and brought the potential go-ahead run to the plate, but a pop-out ended the game with Eugene on top 7-4.
The C’s will send lefty Trenton Wallace to the hill tomorrow night to try and stop the losing skid. Carson Seymour goes for Eugene. First pitch is set for 5:05 p.m. and can be heard on CanadiansBaseball.com and the Sportsnet Radio Network.