Los Monarcas de Eugene took the field Sunday night for the last of a six-game series against the Vancouver Canadians. In a tightly contested, defensive battle, Los Monarcas pulled out the narrow, 2-1 victory. 

The win belonged to Eugene righty Julio Rodriguez and the loss was tacked on to former Oregon Duck and current Vancouver righty Josh Mollerus. Both were late game relievers on Sunday, and one worked his way out of a jam, while the other succumbed to it. 

Los Monarcas trotted out righty Dylan Cumming, who started the team’s electric, combined no-hitter on Wednesday. Cumming opened his 3.0 inning, one hit day with an easy, 1-2-3 first inning which featured two of his five punch-outs.

The Canadians started RHP Pat Gallagher who went 5.1 innings of one-run baseball on six hits and four strikeouts. 

Eugene jumped out to a quick start with two hits in the bottom of the first, but due to some questionable base running, the inning was cut short. 

The next few innings passed with little offense from each team, as both Cumming and Gallagher found it easy to generate weak contact and fan batters out. 

That was until first-baseman Matt Higgins’ double (3) with no outs in the bottom of the third. Higgins waited until there were two outs to steal third, at which point it was too late, as left-fielder Turner Hill swung at a low changeup to close the inning. 

Cumming was replaced at the top of the fourth by righty Nick Sinacola, who had been great out of the bullpen so far this season for Eugene. 

Sinacola saw just three batters in his first frame, with two strikeouts and a baserunning error. 

After just an hour of play, the game was almost halfway finished — a testament to the stellar defensive performances from both teams. 

Los Monarcas finally broke through in the bottom of the fifth after some astute base running from right-fielder Tanner O’Tremba, which brought him to third base with one out. 

In the next at-bat, catcher Jack Payton was able to drive O’Tremba home with a groundout and plate the first run of the game for Eugene. 

On the opposite side of the ball, Sinacola continued his dominance on the bump. He pitched 3.0 innings with one hit and four Ks. He and Cumming combined for just two hits allowed in the first six innings. 

Eugene found a way to start revving up its bats, which led to chasing Gallagher off the bump in the bottom of the sixth with two runners on and one out. Vancouver brought in righty Rafael Ohashi, who quickly smothered the situation without giving up a run. 

It happened due to smart defending from the Canadians, as Los Monarcas tried to steal second with a runner on third. The Canadians recognized the play and quickly gunned it home to catch second-baseman Quinn McDaniel. 

A weak flyout followed, and Ohashi was out of the inning.

Sinacola was replaced by Rodriguez, who started the top of the seventh by giving up a double to center-fielder Dasan Brown (1). Brown was advanced to third on a groundout, but the Canadians’ bats didn’t look threatening enough to drive him home. 

However, it wasn’t the bats they needed, as Brown was able to easily take home after a Rodriguez wild pitch that was fumbled by Payton and tie the game at 1-1.

The game was tied until the bottom of the eighth, where a two-out McDaniel double (3) to the right-center gap drove in Payton, who had singled and advanced on the outs. It drove inMcDaniel’s seventh RBI of the season and his second double of the game. 

That set up left-handed flamethrower Seth Corry to come in for the save in the top of the ninth. 

Corry struggled initially and gave up a leadoff double to Vancouver shortstop Estiven Machado. Machado easily swiped third on a wild pitch, which put him in a prime position to tie the game with just one out. 

Corry remained calm and was able to navigate the outstandingly tough situation he put himself in for his second save of the season. 

Los Monarcas return to action against the Hillsboro Hops on Tuesday night for another six-game series.