As far as pitching performances go, this wasn鈥檛 exactly a Rembrandt.
In fact, it was more of a paint-by-numbers job, with plenty of strokes outside the lines.
It mattered not in the end as the Victoria HarbourCats pounced on a very ordinary performance by Cowlitz Black Bears starter Emilio Foden in an 8-3 win Thursday afternoon at Sports Traders Diamond at Royal Athletic Park.
The victory allowed Victoria to keep pace with Corvallis in the wild-card playoff race. The HarbourCats remain two games back of the Knights.
The HarbourCats now head out to Wenatchee for three games before returning to Victoria for the final homestand of the West Coast League season starting holiday Monday against Yakima Valley.
On Thursday, the hosts finally got to the struggling Foden (1-4) in the third as Austin Guibor led off with a single, followed by an A.J. Alcantara single that led to a fielding error that scored Guibor. Torin Goldstein made it 2-0 with a two-out single to left.
Alcantara put an exclamation point on the game with a grand slam to left in the fourth as he turned on a Foden offering. In fact, Alcantara ate up Foden with three hits over those first four innings for the four RBIs and scored twice.
鈥淵eah, it was a good afternoon. We got 12 hits so everybody was seeing the ball well today,鈥� said Alcantara of Alto Loma, California, who is heading back to the University of California-Irvine.
The six-foot, 205-pounder shone early.
鈥淚 believe it was a 2-and-2 fastball,鈥� he said of the slam. 鈥淚 was looking for a fastball. I had seen all his pitches earlier so I was sitting on that one fastball. I got it and put a good swing on it. I was seeing the ball well today.
鈥淲e jumped on him early, seemed to ease up a bit on him and jumped back on him at the end,鈥� added Alcantara, who also made a nice diving catch in right field.
Earlier, the HarbourCats left the bases loaded in the first and stranded another two in the second.
Foden allowed the six runs on 10 hits over 32脷3 innings with not much pop in his arm.
HarbourCats starter Matt Blais also struggled through the first with a single and a pair of walks, but Cowlitz left the bases juiced.
Blais settled in for stretches on a hot, sunny day, managing to get out of a jam in the fourth as the Black Bears stranded two more. He also dodged a tricky scenario in the fifth as Bowen Ogata lined a sharply hit ball to shortstop Scott Jarvis, who then stepped on the bag at second for a double play.
Blais eluded another bullet in the sixth as the Black Bears left the bases loaded, yet again.
An RBI-double by Isaac Benard in the seventh eventually chased Blais, who got the win but gave up the three runs on seven hits and five walks over 61脷3 innings.
Sean O鈥橳oole, Tei Vanderford and Mikey Wright came on in relief for the HarbourCats, who move back to .500 at 22-22.
Offensively, Jarvis, Alex DeGoti and Kevin Collard all had a pair of hits and Collard collected two RBIs.
Cowlitz stranded 12 runners, while Victoria left eight on base.
