The Eugene Emeralds and Vancouver Canadians finished off a five-game series in dramatic fashion with a walk-off double in the bottom of the ninth by Tyler Payne to give the Emeralds the 4-3 victory.
“He did what he had to do,” center fielder DJ Wilson said. “He put a good swing on the ball and got the job done.”
Following two relatively quiet innings, the Canadians took an early 1-0 lead with two outs in the top of the third when second baseman Cavan Biggio hit a soft fly ball to left field to bring in DJ McKnight, who walked to get on base. In the next at-bat, Eugene shortstop Zack Short made a difficult throw to first baseman Christopher Pieters to save another run from coming across and ending the inning.
In the top of the fourth, the Canadians were threatening again with runners on the corners but right fielder Rodrigo Orozco grounded into a double play to end the inning and keep Canadians lead at one.
The bottom of the fourth marked the end of the night for Canadians Manager John Tarmargo, who was ejected for arguing with the first base umpire on a steal of second base by Kevonte Mitchell.
The Emeralds were unable to push a run across in the fourth despite having runners on second and third with no outs.
After a quick three up, three down top of the fifth inning for the Canadians, Robert Garcia led off the bottom of the fifth for the Emeralds with a double to right field. Yeiler Peguero followed it up with a RBI single to tie the game at one. After a walk by Pieters, Wladimir Galindo crushed a RBI double to score Peguero and give the Ems a 2-1 lead with no outs.
The Canadians then made the call to the bullpen, ending the night for starting pitcher Luis Sanchez. He left the game after four innings, giving up two runs on six hits and striking out one batter.
Geno Encina entered the game and delivered a strikeout, a fly out, and another strike out to end the inning.
M.T. Minacci started the top of the sixth for the Emeralds and shut down the Canadians in a quick top of the sixth. Emeralds starting pitcher Bryan Hudson finished the night giving up three hits and striking out five in five innings of work.
DJ Wilson doubled in the bottom of the sixth and reached third on a fielding error when Garcia singled. Peguero beat out an attempt of a double play and allowed Wilson to score, making it 3-1. He then advanced to second when a pickoff attempt hit the wall behind first base. Runners were on the corners after a single by Pieters, then loaded when Galindo walked immediately following. But Mitchell hit a ground ball right to Biggio for the force out to end the inning.
Minacci kept the Canadians in check again in the seventh inning. He did not surrender a hit in his two innings of work. Dakota Mekkes entered the game in the eighth inning and continued right where Minacci left off, holding the Canadians without a hit.
The hitless streak came to an end on a base hit by Biggio in the top of the ninth with the Canadians looking to rally, down two runs. After Anderson struck out for the first out, first baseman Nash Knight hit a single. In the next at-bat, third baseman Bryan Lizardo reached first on a throwing error by Mekkes, scoring both Biggio and Knight to tie the game.
“The pitchers out of the pen did an outstanding job despite that throwing error,” Eugene manager Jesus Feliciano said.
After tying the game the Canadians brought in Nick Hartman to try to close out the inning and force extra innings. After two quick outs, it looked like that was going to be the case. However, Sam Tidaback delivered with a single to give Tyler Payne an opportunity to bring him in with a game-winning double.
“That tells a lot about our team’s character,” Feliciano said.  “They tied the game but we came right back with that big run.”
The Emeralds hit the road for a seven-game road trip, starting a three-game series beginning tomorrow night against the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes at 6:35 pm.
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