The Vancouver Canadians downed the Tri-City Dust Devils 1-0 and 7-0 in a doubleheader at Gesa Stadium on Tuesday.
The lone run of Game 1 came in the top of the sixth. Jamari Baylor singled to left with one out against Dust Devils reliever Jared Southard. A groundout to second by Jace Bohrofen moved Baylor into scoring position before Nick Goodwin singled to right to drive in Baylor.
Lazaro Estrada took care of the rest, facing just one batter over the minimum as he completed a seven-inning no-hitter.
Game 2 Recap
The Canadians got down to business against Tri-City starter Ryan Langford in the top of the first inning. Jamari Baylor drew a leadoff walk and got to third on a Jace Bohrofen double to right field. One out later, Peyton Williams doubled to left to score Baylor and Bohrofen. Jackson Hornung singled to left to drive in Williams and got to second on the throw to the plate. Dylan Rock then drove in Hornung with a two-out base hit to left to put Vancouver up 4-0.
Baylor started another rally with one out in the second with a single to left and Bohrofen and Nick Goodwin followed with back-to-back walks to load the bases. Hornung drew a two-out walk to bring home Baylor and chase Langford from the game. Jake Smith had trouble finding the strike zone as well, issuing back-to-back base on balls to Je’Von Ward and Rock to score Bohrofen and Goodwin.
C-Notes
Estrada began his outing by bookending the first inning with strikeouts of Jorge Ruiz and Matt Coutney and turned the same trick in a flawless fourth. Joe Stewart was the first Tri-City hitter to get on base with a two-out walk in the third but Hernández threw Stewart out on a 2-6 play to end the inning. That was the first time Stewart was caught stealing after swiping 11 in a row to start the season.
In the top of the fifth, Chad Stevens was a strikeout victim of Estrada and Andy Blake went down swinging after Cam Williams drew a leadoff walk in the sixth. The seventh inning began with a Caleb Ketchup K as Estrada retired the side in order to complete the no-no.
Goodwin was the first baserunner of Game 1 with a two-out walk in the first inning against Dust Devils starter Ryan Costieu.
Ward and Rock had back-to-back singles to left field in the second but Ward was nailed trying to go for a double on a 7-4 putout. Rock had a one-out walk in the fifth but Costieu ended his five shutout frames by getting Jommer Hernández to hit into a 6-4-3 double play.
Williams had a leadoff single up the middle to start the seventh against Southard but pinch-runner Marcos De La Rosa was forced out on the front end of a 6-4-3 double play from Ward.
De La Rosa took over at third base in the top of the seventh and Baylor moved from third to replace Williams at first.
If you were expecting the local sports radio station to have the audio of the historic Game 1, it did not at the time of this writing.
In Game 2, Carson Pierce recorded three straight groundouts in the first and struck out Mason Martin to begin the second. He took care of a Stevens single to center by getting a 6-4-3 double play from Ronaldo Flores.
Pierce whiffed Werner Blakely and Williams to offset a Stewart single to left in the third. A leadoff walk to Coutney and a base hit to right by Jadiel Sánchez greeted Pierce to star the fourth. After striking out Martin, Pierce was relieved by Grayson Thurman who stranded the two runners by getting the two men he faced, including an inning-ending strikeout of Flores.
After a spotless fifth by Thurman, Naswell Paulino fanned Ketchup and Coutney in a perfect sixth.
Chay Yeager coughed up a two-out single to center by Flores but struck out Blakely to end the game.
The C’s went down quietly in the third but averaged a baserunner an inning for the next three frames. A Goodwin infield single to short against Smith to start the fourth, a one-out walk by Estiven Machado against Willian Suarez in the fifth and a Goodwin base hit to left to start the sixth was all Vancouver could get.
Vancouver had a chance to pile up more runs in the seventh by loading the bases with one out. A Hornung infield single to short, a one-out Rock double and a Machado hit by pitch loaded the bases with one out but Quinton Martinez finished the frame with a pair of whiffs.
Pat Gallagher will start the penultimate game of the first half for Vancouver. The game from Gesa Stadium is set for 7:05 p.m. on CanadiansBaseball.com and MiLB.TV.
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