Riley Adams had two hits and an RBI in a losing cause Sunday in Boise.
The Vancouver Canadians and Boise Hawks will have a rubber match to decide the winner of their five-game series after the Hawks edged the C’s 3-2 at Boise Memorial Stadium Sunday.
Vancouver starter Juan Nunez had trouble finding the strike zone where he walked two batters in each of the first two innings. A double play helped him get out of the first but he wasn’t as lucky in the second. Walks to Danny Edgeworth and Austin Bernard were driven in on a Daniel Jipping single/Norberto Obeso error in left and a Jose Rodriguez ground ball.
Nunez walked six, plunked a batter and only struck two in his four-inning outing but the damage was limited to those second-inning runs. Miguel Burgos started the fifth and gave up one run on a solo homer by Jipping in the sixth. Jake Fishman finished up with two scoreless frames of one-hit ball striking out three.
The C’s bats were silenced for the first five innings by Boise starter Zach Jemiola. A Kevin Vicuna ground ball double play in the first killed a promising rally in the first, especially when Kacy Clemens and Riley Adams followed with two-out singles. Walks by Bryan Lizardo in the second and Brock Lundquist in the fourth did not lead to anything more. Obeso singled with one out in the fifth and Reggie Pruitt reached on an error for the second time in the game in the fifth. Pruitt was then caught stealing for the first time this season in nine attempts.
Vancouver’s luck was no better in the next two innings as a Clemens leadoff double in the sixth was wasted against Hawks reliever Ryan Luna. Lizardo reached on an error to start the seventh but Deiferson Barreto hit into a double play.
The C’s finally scored in the eighth when Vicuna singled, stole second and scored on an Adams single. Cullen Large pushed Adams into scoring position with a base hit but Lundquist struck out squelch that rally.
Lizardo tripled to start the ninth and he was cashed in by a one-out base hit from Obeso but reliever Juan Pena came in to strike out Pruitt and Vicuna to end the game, leaving pinch-runner Brandon Polizzi 270 feet away from scoring.
Vancouver was 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position and stranded nine.
C-Notes
2014-2015 C’s lefthander and Detroit Tigers prospect Jairo Labourt struck out the only batter he faced in the Futures Games Sunday in Miami. The strikeout victim was Blue Jays prospect Bo Bichette as he went down swinging to end the seventh, leaving two runners on base.
The C’s wrap up their series this evening in Boise. Dalton Rodriguez is scheduled to get the start for Vancouver. First pitch is set for 6:15 pm Pacific Time and can be heard at CanadiansBaseball.com. The Canadians still maintain a three-game lead on Tri-City for first place in the North Division.
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