Brock Lundquist reached base three times for Vancouver Monday night.
The winners at Nat Bailey Stadium the last two days have something in common—they both wear green. Chef Wasabi won the Sushi Race for the second day in a row after Saduhara Soy tripped and fell while the neon-green clad Hillsboro Hops easily outdistanced the C’s 9-2 Monday night. The Hops wore their blue uniforms in the series opener before reverting to green the last two days but the C’s can’t beat them no matter what the visitors have been wearing.
Brody Rodning retired the first two hitters of the game—including a strikeout of Bryan Araiza—but a walk to Yan Sanchez and a double by Eudy Ramos put runners on second and third. Rodning was one strike away from getting out of the inning twice but he lost Drew Ellis on a walk to load the bases before Daulton Varsho cleared them with a three-run double to left.
Rodning nearly hit Tim Susnara in the face to start the second, grazing his batting helmet. Rodning apologized immediately but Susnara looked none too thrilled before taking his base. Rodning was able to complete the inning and wound up retiring his last four hitters, the last two by strikeout.
The C’s only had David Jacob reach on an error in the first but looked to have something going in the second when Cullen Large and Brock Lundquist singled with one out just after Kacy Clemens hit one hard but lined out to right. That rally was killed when Deiferson Barreto grounded into a double play.
Chris Hall took over for Rodning with one out in the third and three batters later, Hillsboro added two runs when Ramos walked and Ellis and Varsho doubled. Hall did work around a single and a walk in the fourth before giving the ball to Grayson Huffman in the fifth.
Ellis drew a leadoff walk against Huffman, advanced to second on a groundout, stole third and scored on a wild pitch.
Vancouver matched that run in the bottom half when Large walked and Lundquist doubled him over to third. Large would score on a Barreto fielder’s choice. Brandon Polizzi earned a base on balls but was doubled up on a botched hit and run when Reggie Pruitt fouled out at first.
The C’s had another one-out rally in the sixth on base hits by Jacob and Riley Adams but that went nowhere against Hops starter Riley Smith.
Ellis homered off Huffman and Susnara doubled home another before Brayden Bouchey entered the game in the seventh but he allowed an inherited run on a Camden Duzenack double.
Luis Castillo retired the side for Hillsboro in the seventh, ending the inning with a strikeout of pinch-hitter Norberto Obeso who replaced Polizzi. Bouchey struck out two in a perfect eighth and got away with a double and a single with a strikeout and 6-4-3 double play with Owen Spiwak replacing Adams behind the plate.
Spiwak struck out against Pierce Romero to begin the ninth but walks by Clemens, Large and Lundquist loaded the bases. A balk by Romero scored Clemens but after a Barreto strikeout, the bases were loaded again when Obeso drew a free pass. The C’s could not score another as Pruitt lined to short to end the game. That summed up the C’s woes offensively as they went 0-for-7 with men in scoring position and stranded eight.
Radar Gun Rundown
Brody Rodning reached up to 93 miles per hour with strikeouts at 77, 91, 81 and 89. Chris Hall hit 95 with a strikeout at 92 with a pitch of 79 at the bottom of the scale. Grayson Huffman was around 95-96 with a run-scoring wild pitch of 97. He was at 83 on the low end. Brayden Bouchey was in the 76-89 range.
C-Notes
The only saving grace for the C’s was Tri-City losing again in Boise so Vancouver still has a two-game lead for top spot in the North. The fourth game of this series will see Wilfri Aleton get the ball for Vancouver in a 7:05 pm start Tuesday on CanadiansBaseball.com and TSN 1040.
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