Blue Jays legend Dave Stieb is greeted by Andy Ravel after the ceremonial first pitch.
The C's slim first-half playoff chances took another hit with a crushing loss against the top team in the Northwest League, the Eugene Emeralds.
Blue Jays legend Dave Stieb is greeted by Andy Ravel after the ceremonial first pitch.
The Emeralds had a bat-around first inning against Nate Abel, scoring four times in the first and another in the second.
Lance Jones got the C's first hit with a double and scored the first run on a Jacob Anderson single in the first.
Yeltsin Gudino looks back as he coasts into third with a triple in the second after the Emeralds right fielder fell down.
Cavan Biggio gets ready to hit in the fifth inning.
Cavan Biggio is forced out at home after a Jacob Anderson fielder's choice at first.
The C's appeared to have the Em's Vimael Machin in a rundown but the base umpire overruled it in the sixth and Machin was awarded with a stolen base.
Jackson McClelland set down the only two hitters he faced to finish out the ninth.
Joshua Palacios reaches third base as the potential tying run after pinch-running for Christian Williams in the ninth.
C's manager John Tamargo Jr. argues the game-ending call of batter interference against Lance Jones on a swinging strikeout when the ball got away from Eugene catcher Sam Tidaback. That negated a Joshua Palacios mad dash to the plate as the Emeralds held on for the 8-7 victory.
C-Notes
J.B. Woodman singled in the second inning and moved a Lance Jones double to third. Jones would eventually score on a Jacob Anderson base hit that moved Woodman to second but Woodman was picked off at second base by Emeralds pitcher Manuel Rondon to limit the rally to one run. Woodman also grounded into a double play after two runners got on to spoil another rally in the third. Jones also hit into a twin-killing with the bases loaded to end the sixth.
Jackson McClelland was summoned from the bullpen to replace Grayson Huffman to start the ninth inning. McClelland had completed his warm-up but Huffman had to come back to face the first batter of the inning before McClelland came into the game. Things still worked out because Huffman struck his man out before McClelland "re-entered" the game. I suppose the umpire wasn't properly notified of the pitching change. I am not sure.
Joshua Palacios must have arrived to the park well after the game started because I did not see him during pre-game warmups. He only came in to pinch-run for Christian Williams with two outs in the ninth and it was after Yeltsin Gudino struck out that Williams was replaced. Palacios and lefty Travis Bergen were called up from the Gulf Coast League prior to the game.
Cavan Biggio really had a professional at-bat in the ninth in drawing a bases-loaded walk to pull Vancouver to within a run. He fell behind early in the count 0-2 but fouled off a couple of pitches to earn the free pass. He got a reprieve when a foul ball down the first base line just landed into the seats.
Radar Gun Rundown
Nate Abel threw pitches from 77-90, Gabe Noyalis was 77-92, Grayson Huffman was from 80-95 and Jackson McClelland was 75-93.
2016 first-round pick T.J. Zeuch makes his debut on Canadian soil in a 1:05 pm start at Nat Bailey Stadium. Dalton Rodriguez and Patrick Murphy are listed as the probable starter for Saturday at 7:05 and Sunday at 1:05.
The 16-18 C's find themselves tied with Everett for last place in the Northwest League North Division but are one game back of 17-17 Spokane and Tri-City. The C's only have the tie-breaker edge on Spokane.
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