Norberto Obeso had Vancouver’s only hit in Hillsboro Saturday night.
The Vancouver Canadians had another tough night at the office against the Hillsboro Hops as they were blanked 6-0 at Ron Tonkin Field Saturday night. That gave the Hops their seventh win in the eight games against the C’s so far in 2017.
Brian Shaffer started the Hops on the right foot with two clean innings that included a couple of strikeouts. Those zeros were matched by Juan Nunez as he stranded a two-out double by Camden Duzenack in the first and a two-out walk by Tra’mayne Holmes in the second.
The third inning saw a new pitcher on the mound for the Hops in Kevin McCanna but it was the same result for the C’s offence as they went down in order. Nunez matched that effort in the bottom of the third but could not respond to another perfect inning turned in by McCanna in the fourth. Back-to-back doubles by Duzenack and Pavin Smith produced the first run of the game for the Hops. Nunez would plunk Holmes was a pitch but he kept the damage to one run.
Vancouver did get their first baserunner of the game in the top of the fifth when Riley Adams drew a one-out walk but that was as far as he would get. Nunez plunked Dan Swain to start the bottom half of the inning. He made it to third on a Ryan Grotjohn single before scoring on a ground-rule double from Bryan Araiza. Grotjohn would come home on a sacrifice fly by Duzenack to make it 3-0 Hillsboro.
The sixth inning saw just one base hit, a two-out single by Tim Susnara to second but Nunez would keep the Hops off the board. Vancouver had trouble making contact—let alone getting a hit—as McCanna struck out five of the six hitters he faced in the sixth and seventh.
Juan Nunez gave the C’s six innings of three-run ball in Hillsboro Saturday.
Hillsboro would expand their lead against Bobby Eveld in the home half of the seventh inning. Eveld retired the first two batters he saw but plunked Duzenack and he got his revenge by stealing second and scoring on a Smith single. Drew Ellis then put one over the wall in left for a two-run homer to increase the Hops advantage by six. Brayden Bouchey was called upon to get the final out of the frame.
The C’s finally got another baserunner aboard in the eighth when Adams heard ball four for the second time of the game to start the eighth against McCanna. Owen Spiwak also drew a walk against Hops pitcher Matt Brill but he was erased on the front-half of an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play ball from Bryan Lizardo.
Bouchey struck out Holmes to begin the bottom of the eighth but Yonardo Herdenez took over. Herdenez’s lone hiccups were a Susnara single and wild pitch before getting out of the inning.
Vancouver finally got their first hit of the night when Norberto Obeso lined a single to left off Brill to begin the ninth. Obeso got to move around to third on back-to-back walks by Reggie Pruitt and Kevin Vicuna. Erbert Gonzalez came into the game to get Kacy Clemens looking and David Jacob swinging at strike three before Adams flied out to end the game.
C-Notes
The C’s had trouble getting hits because they could not get the bat on the ball, striking out 14 times on the night. Vicuna and Jacob each had a hat trick while Logan Warmoth, Lizardo and Clemens were victims of strike three twice. The C’s were 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position, leaving five men on base.
Despite taking the loss to fall to 2-5, Nunez put together a quality start of three runs allowed over six innings. He gave up three runs on six hits, a walk and two hit by pitches while striking out two and getting eight outs on the ground. It was a big step forward for Nunez after getting roughed up for 13 runs over a combined seven innings from his previous two starts. Eveld allowed the other three runs on two hits in two-thirds of an inning. Bouchey and Herdenez split the last four outs to record.
In alumni news, 2016 C’s outfielder J.B. Woodman had a clutch outing for the Lansing Lugnuts.
J.B. Woodman scored two runs and drilled a tie-breaking two-run triple in the Lugnuts’ 4-1 win at Dayton! RECAP: https://t.co/nWa4wuH98e pic.twitter.com/26I7Fgao8Y
— Lansing Lugnuts (@LansingLugnuts) August 6, 2017
Taylor Cole pitched exactly 100 innings with the C’s during the 2011 and 2012 campaigns.
Congratulations to 2011-2012 C’s righthander Taylor Cole for getting promoted by the Toronto Blue Jays Saturday. His contract was selected from the Buffalo Bisons after 5-2/3 scoreless and hitless innings with the Herd in which he struck out seven and walked one over four appearances. Cole was 7-3 with a 2.52 earned run average in his two seasons with Vancouver as he helped them earn the first two of three consecutive Northwest League championships.
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