Canadians Do It All In Doubleheader Sweep

VANCOUVER, BC – Winless at Nat Bailey Stadium since August 28, 2019, the Vancouver Canadians celebrated their first Fortis BC ‘Nooner at The Nat with a convincing doubleheader sweep over the Eugene Emeralds (Giants) thanks to a 4-1 win in game one and a 9-6 triumph in game two.

In the first game, Eugene started the scoring on an Armani Smith homer in the second, but the C’s responded in the home half to tie it up. Miguel Hiraldo doubled with one out and scored on Hugo Cardona’s RBI two-bagger – his fourth extra-base hit in four games – to make it 1-1.

Vancouver took the lead for good in the fifth when a hit batter, an Addison Barger double, a passed ball and a P.K. Morris sacrifice fly plated a pair. Davis Schneider’s second big fly of the year in the sixth put the game away with the score 4-1

Naswell Paulino was excellent in his second career start. He worked four innings, allowed the Smith home run as the only hit he surrendered, walked one and K’d four before passing the baton to Hunter Gregory (W, 1-0), who set down nine of the 10 batters he faced to earn his first professional win.

Eugene drew first blood in the second game as well. Former first round pick Hunter Bishop took reigning Northwest League Pitcher of the Week Chad Dallas deep on the third pitch of the game, but Dallas limited the damage despite allowing a single and a walk later in the inning.

The lead lasted all of two outs. Leo Jimenez was plunked to start the bottom of the first and Barger followed with a single to extend his hitting streak to a league-high 11 games. Top Giants pitching prospect Kyle Harrison (L, 0-1) struck out the next two hitters and seemed poised to strand a pair, but Zach Britton worked the count full before watching ball four for a crucial two-out walk to load the bases. Up stepped Trevor Schwecke, who parked a 1-0 pitch from Harrison beyond the wall in left field for a grand slam that put Vancouver in front for good. It was Schwecke’s league-best third homer and the second grand slam in the last five games for the Canadians offense.

Three unearned runs scored in the bottom of the second when the C’s took advantage of a crucial missed catch. With two outs, Jimenez hit a routine grounder to the shortstop, who fielded it cleanly and threw a perfect strike to first. The ball went in and out of the first baseman’s glove and Jimenez reached safely. Barger walked in the next plate appearance to set the table for Riley Tirotta, who clubbed his second homer of the year to left field to make it 7-1.

Dallas settled down and hung a couple of zeroes in the second and third before surrendering a single and a two-run homer to start the fourth. On came Will McAffer (W, 1-0), who set down the next three hitters to stymie any Emeralds momentum. Garrett Farmer followed for his Blue Jays organization debut and was perfect through two innings of relief.

Vancouver plated a pair of unearned insurance runs in the sixth when Jimenez was hit again, Tirotta’s well-struck ground ball ate up the third baseman to score Jimenez and Britton singled home Tirotta to put the Canadians ahead 9-3. Eugene rallied for three in the seventh, but it was too little too late as the C’s completed the doubleheader sweep with a 9-6 win.

The Canadians offense finished the day with three home runs, four other extra base hits and went 4-for-14 with runners in scoring position. Vancouver is 4-0 in doubleheaders this year and is alone at the top of the Northwest League standings.

The series continues tomorrow afternoon with the first “Saturday Nat-In-Eh” of 2022. #11 Blue Jays prospect Adam Kloffenstein is set to go for the C’s and will be opposed by Randy Rodriguez. Coverage begins at 1:00 p.m. and continues with first pitch at 1:05 p.m. on CanadiansBaseball.com and the Sportsnet Radio Network.