The Vancouver Canadians rallied again to get past the Tri-City Dust Devils 6-4 at Gesa Stadium on Saturday.
The C’s put up a pair of runs against Dust Devils starter Chris Clark in the top of the first. Jace Bohrofen walked with one out and stole second base with two outs. Peyton Williams worked a walk before Jackson Hornung doubled to left to plate Bohrofen and Williams.
The Dust Devils halved that 2-0 C’s advantage when Cam Williams connected for a one-out solo home run in the second off Ryan Jennings.
That home run was matched by Je’Von Ward who took Clark on the first pitch of the sixth inning to put the C’s ahead 3-1.
Chay Yeager relieved Jennings in the bottom of the sixth and the Dust Devils got a leadoff walk from Joe Redfield before stringing together a two-out rally. After Matt Coutney struck out, Chad Stevens doubled to center and Williams went deep again for a three-run shot to center to catapult Tri-City to a 4-3 lead. Yeager would strike out Juan Flores to end the inning.
Vancouver would even the score in the top of the seventh when Nick Goodwin took Dust Devils reliever José Fermin deep to left-center field.
The C’s went back to work in the eighth when a Dylan Rock double to center with one out knocked Fermin out of the game. Carlos Espinosa could not keep Rock there as he surrendered an RBI single to center field by Jean Arnaez on a 3-2 pitch.
Vancouver would add one more run in the ninth. Peyton Williams drew a leadoff free pass from Espinosa. Pinch-runner Estiven Machado would trot to second on a one-out walk by Ward. Jake Smith took over for Espinosa and mishandled a check-swing comebacker to the mound from Rock and that allowed Machado to score the C’s sixth run.
Yeager got the victory in relief and Josh Mollerus recorded the final six outs for the save.
C-Notes
Jennings served notice that he meant business as he struck out the side in the first inning. He struck out Redfield and Coutney looking and got Placencia swinging in between.
Stevens was Jennings’ fourth straight strikeout victim before Cam Williams game-tying homer in the second. Despite a Ketchup single to center field and a stolen base with two outs, Jennings would strike out the side again with Flores and Blakely going down swinging.
The third inning saw Jennings settle for one strikeout as he got Placencia again to end a perfect frame. In the fourth, Jennings stranded a Cam Williams two-out walk with two more whiffs as he sat down Coutney and Flores.
Strikeout number 10 for Jennings came when Blakely swung and missed after Ketchup stole second base on the heels of a leadoff walk. The C’s defence managed to bottle up Ketchup as he was tagged out rounding too far past third base for the third out on a Ruiz 6-3-5 inning-ending double play.
Yeager came back out for the seventh inning and stranded a Ketchup leadoff walk and stolen base, recording a strikeout of Ruiz.
Mollerus also got away with a leadoff walk to Placencia in the eighth and got Flores looking at strike three to begin the ninth. Ketchup doubled to left and swiped third with one out but Mollerus rallied to strike out Blakely before retiring Ruiz on a fly ball to left.
Vancouver had the bases loaded in the fourth after a pair of one-out walks to Hornung and Ward and a two-out single to right by Rock but could not capitalize against Clark.
Two more runners were stranded by Clark in the fifth after Bohrofen singled to left with one out and Peyton Williams walked with two away. In the ninth, the C’s had the bases loaded again after Rock’s fielder’s choice but Machado hit into an inning-ending 1-2-3 double play.
The Canadians finish up their series against the Dust Devils with Rafael Sánchez on the hill. Game time is 7:05 p.m. from Gesa Stadium. Chris Georges will describe the action on CanadiansBaseball.com. Doug Taylor will have the play-by-play on MiLB.TV.
Congratulations to 2022 Vancouver Canadians outfielder Steward Berroa as he has been called up from Triple-A Buffalo by the Toronto Blue Jays. The switch-hitter from Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic batted .296/.380/.451 with the Bisons and added seven home runs among his 15 extra-base hits and stole 29 bases. Berroa has been in the Jays system since signing with the team as a free agent on July 4, 2016, and has 232 stolen bases to his credit. He stole 40 of those bases during his time in Vancouver which was cut short after he jammed his wrist into the foot of Everett’s Dariel Gomez when he was picked off at first base. Of course, Berroa’s legend will live on in Vancouver after showing off his dance moves during the grounds crew dance at Nat Bailey Stadium. He earned the nickname ‘Disco Stu‘ in the press box that night.
It was thought Berroa’s call-up was related to Blue Jays outfielder Daulton Varsho being shaken up during Saturday’s loss in Cleveland. Instead, it was the result of 2021 Hillsboro Canadians infielder Orelvis Martinez receiving an 80-game suspension for testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug.
Martinez never played at Nat Bailey Stadium in Vancouver and he did not play at the Dome in Toronto either for the entirety of Boston’s three-game sweep earlier this week. He singled in his second major league at-bat during Friday’s loss.
It was be a while before Martinez gets his second MLB hit.
C-Tweets
C's Plus Baseball | A Vancouver Canadians Blog 