For five innings, the Eugene Emeralds’ streaky bats remained stagnant against the Vancouver Canadians. But in the bottom of the sixth, the Emeralds (13-8) flipped a switch, blowing the game wide open with eight runs en route to an 8-4, series-ending win over the Canadians (8-13) on Wednesday night at PK Park.
Though the Emeralds already had the series clinched after Tuesday night’s victory, they wanted more, and got it. Wednesday’s win was the fourth straight for the Emeralds as they head into a five-game series on the road against the Tri-City Dust Devils.
“When we won the series last night, it’s easy to have a little bit of a let down,” manager Gary Van Tol said. “I just reminded the guys, ‘We need to take advantage of this position, because it doesn’t happen a lot.’”
Donnie Dewees continued aggressively chasing pitches and it paid off: he went 3 for 4 with two doubles, and added an RBI in the momentum-swinging sixth inning.
“Battling with two strikes, I put the ball in play and used my speed to my advantage to start the sixth,” Dewees said. “It was a good night to be an Emerald.”
Dewees’ double started the sixth inning rally for the Emeralds. The next batter, Frandy De La Rosa, drove in Dewees from second to tie the game 1-1. Ian Happ followed De La Rosa with an RBI of his own, and the Emeralds took a 2-1 lead, never looking back.
The Emeralds batted through the order and then some, as Dewees chipped in another RBI double and De La Rosa added two more RBIs to his team-leading 14 for the season. The inning finally ended when Happ popped up to center, but not before the Emeralds pushed the lead 8-1.
Oscar De La Cruz earned his second win of the season for the Emeralds, pitching six complete innings with six strikeouts and a 1.64 ERA.
“Oscar is one of our really good pitchers and I feel comfortable with him on the mound,” Dewees said. “He has a good fastball and throws a lot of strikes. I was confident that because he held them to one run, we were going to score, and we did that eventually.”
The Canadians briefly threatened to come back in the top of the eighth. Lane Thomas scored first, and three batters later, Gunnar Heidt drove in two more runners to lessen the deficit to 8-4. But Emeralds reliever Heath Dwyer struck out Kevin Garcia on the next at bat, putting an end to the Canadians’ rally.
The Emeralds’ road series begins Thursday against the Tri-City Dust Devils at 7:15 p.m. The Emeralds won four out of five at home against the Dust Devils earlier this season, and winning another four out of five against the Canadians will give the Emeralds confidence as they begin this road trip.
“Going into Tri-City now with a rested bullpen and some momentum, we’re looking forward to getting on that bus tomorrow and hopefully keep this mojo going,” Van Tol said.
Follow Will Denner on Twitter @Will_Denner