Logan Warmoth delivered a two-run double and scored the winning run in Hillsboro Sunday.
The Vancouver Canadians have given themselves the opportunity to salvage a series victory against the Hillsboro Hops as they rallied for a 5-3 win at Ron Tonkin Field Sunday. Though Hillsboro has already won the season series with seven wins in nine games, the C’s have a chance to win three of five in Oregon before heading back home.
The C’s had an opportunity to get on the board in the first inning with one-out singles by Kevin Vicuna and Kacy Clemens but Clemens—after reaching on an infield single to second—was forced out on a David Jacob fielder’s choice. Riley Adams was plunked to load the bases but Tyler Badamo retired Logan Warmoth on a fly ball to center for the third out.
Colton Laws received his second brief start of the series and he struck out the side in the first. The only problem was Camden Duzenack reached base on a wild pitch to start off the game. After Bryan Araiza and Luis Lara went down swinging, Pavin Smith blooped a single to right that brought home Duzenack with the game’s first run. Duzenack was able to get a running start from first with the count at three balls and two strikes to Smith.
After a Cullen Large single was stranded in the second inning, the Hops went back to work with another run against Laws. Daulton Varsho doubled and got to third on a groundout to short by Ryan Grotjohn before scoring on a Ryan Dobson sacrifice fly.
Vancouver would break through for a run in the third when Vicuna doubled and advanced 90 feet on another single by Clemens before Jacob drove him home with a base hit. With runners on first and second, the C’s could not bring any of them home.
Dalton Rodriguez recorded 12 groundball outs in his five innings of work.
Dalton Rodriguez was brought into the game in the third inning and managed to retired the side in order in his first two innings. The only Canadian to reach base was Large after he was hit by a pitch to start the fourth. Nobody in a Vancouver uniform got aboard in the fifth.
Rodriguez gave up his first hit to Grotjohn to begin the fifth before Dobson forced him out at second on a fielder’s choice. Dobson got to second on a Luis Perez groundout to short and managed to score on an infield hit to third by Duzenack. Even though Duzenack stole second and Araiza walked, Rodriguez was able to get out of the jam by getting Lara to ground out to first.
Logan Warmoth lined a base hit to left to start the sixth but he was forced out on the front end of an inning-ending double play by Large. Rodriguez got away with a two-out walk to Varsho to send the game to the seventh.
Kevin Ginkel was summoned from the Hops bullpen and he stranded a Deiferson Barreto single to send the game into the seventh-inning stretch. Rodriguez was able to work around a Perez single and stolen base and a walk by Duzenack to give the C’s another chance to cut into the Hops two-run lead.
A Jacob single and an Adams ground-rule double chased Ginkel from the game in the eighth and led to Matt Peacock taking to the mound. He was greeted by a two-run double to right by Warmoth to tie the game at 3-3. Brock Lundquist moved Warmoth to third with a fly ball to right before Large gave the C’s the lead with a base hit to score Warmoth.
Cullen Large came through with the game-winning RBI Sunday.
William Ouellette relieved Rodriguez in the bottom of the eighth and sat down the Hops in order. Reggie Pruitt began the ninth with a triple to right and Vicuna would earn a base on balls to put runners on the corners. Clemens hit a ground ball to second but Vicuna stopped in his tracks and avoided a tag from Grotjohn who had to settle for the out at first. That allowed Pruitt to come home with an insurance run to make it 5-3.
William Ouellette shut the door with two perfect innings on Sunday.
Ouellette struck out Grotjohn to begin the bottom of the ninth and would end it by stepping on first to complete a 3-1 groundout by Perez to nail down the victory for the C’s.
C-Notes
A quintet of C’s had twp hits in this one with Vicuna and Large getting on base three times with a walk and a hit by a pitch respectively. Jacob, Clemens and Warmoth also had two hits with Jacob and Clemens driving home one and Warmoth bringing home two. Adams was on base twice with a double and a plunk. Vancouver had 13 hits and went 4-for-15 with runners in scoring position, stranding nine.
Laws gave up two runs in his two innings on two hits but struck out three and walked none. Clutchlings provides this scouting report on Laws from his first outing against the Hops.
Notes on Colton Laws’ brief outing with Vancouver last night: pic.twitter.com/xWGoGbCEui
— Clutchlings (@Clutchlings77) August 4, 2017
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Rodriguez evened up his record at 4-4 with five innings of one unearned run on three hits and three walks. He only had one strikeout but kept his infield pretty busy with a dozen groundball outs. Ouellete had two clean innings that included one strikeout for his seventh save.
Rodrigo Orozco had not homered since 2015 — but his two-run shot in the 10th gave the Nuts a 5-3 win in Dayton! https://t.co/XGPZvcHlwk pic.twitter.com/wK60j81HqZ
— Lansing Lugnuts (@LansingLugnuts) August 6, 2017
Rodrigo Orozco (2015-2016) and Josh Palacios (2016) had three hits apiece to help the Lugnuts defeat Dayton. J.B. Woodman (2016) also homered as part of a two-hit game. Patrick Murphy allowed just two runs over six innings but Nick Hartman got the win with two innings of one-run relief.
New Hampshire split a doubleheader against Richmond. Richard Urena (2014) had three hits and Gunnar Heidt (2015-2016) was 2-for-2 with a walk and a stolen base. Sean Reid-Foley (2014) gave up three runs (two earned) on seven hits (including a home run) and a walk but struck out five and induced eight groundouts over six innings to get the win. Carlos Ramirez (2012) had a scoreless seventh by offsetting two hits with two strikeouts to earn the save.
Michael De La Cruz (2014) had a home run, a single and three runs batted in and Juan Kelly (2015) had a two-hit game to help Dunedin upend Charlotte. Conor Fisk (2015) got the win with six innings of three-run ball. Alonzo Gonzalez (2013) pitched two shutout innings of relief and Jackson McClelland (2015-2016) had a scoreless ninth for the save.
C’s Fast Forward
Nate Pearson is slated to start the series finale in Hillsboro. Game time is 7:05 pm with CanadiansBaseball.com and MiLB.TV carrying the action. Vancouver is 5-6 so far in the second half as they trail 8-3 Spokane and 6-5 Tri-City in the North Division. Hillsboro is tied with Eugene for top spot in the South at 6-5, one game up on Salem-Keizer.
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