reilly_johnson_congratulated

Reilly Johnson is greeted by Sterling Guzman (#2) and Griffin Conine (#9) at home plate after scoring on a McGregory Contreras grand slam in the third inning against Tri-City. A smiling Tanner Kirwer looks on from the left.

The Vancouver Canadians turned back the clock with their throwback jerseys and returned to their winning ways Tuesday. The C’s dumped the Tri-City Dust Devils by a score of 7-1 at Nat Bailey Stadium for their first home victory of 2018.

C's RecapThe C’s took the lead with a two-out hit in the first inning courtesy of Jake Brodt. The former Santa Clara Bronco took a pitch from Nick Kuzia up the middle to score a Nick Podkul walk. Podkul scored from second after Griffin Conine moved him into scoring position with a groundout to first.

Vancouver added to its lead with another two-out run in the second. Bryan Lizardo singled to left and came around to score on a Tanner Kirwer double down the left field line which snuck past Dust Devils outfielder Mason House. Kirwer made it to third on the throw but he was left there when Vinny Capra struck out.

mcgregory_contreras_smiling_on_deck McGregory Contreras had a lot to smile about Tuesday night with two extra-base hits.

The third inning saw the C’s break it open. Podkul drew his second walk in as many at-bats and Conine also heard ball four from the umpire. Sterling Guzman would drive in Podkul with a base hit to left to make it 3-0 C’s. Joe Galindo took over for Kuzia on the mound but walked Reilly Johnson to load the bases. Lizardo ran the count full before being called out on strikes but McGregory Contreras would pick up the slack. He socked a grand slam to left to give Vancouver a 7-0 lead.

joey_murray_follow_through Joey Murray set the tone for the C’s with two shutout innings against Tri-City Tuesday.

The Dust Devils could not solve the C’s pitching staff of Joey Murray, Sean Wymer and Will McAffer who shared the first six innings evenly. They would break the shutout in the seventh against Justin Watts. Luis Ascunsion doubled and that was followed by a Luke Becker single and a House to load the bases. Jose Lezama would lift a sacrifice fly to score Ascunsion for Tri-City’s only run. Marcus Reyes shut things down with two scoreless frames to help the C’s pick up their fourth win of the season.

C-Notes

C's NotesC’s shortstop Vinny Capra did a nice job jumping to flag a high throw from Johnson to tag out Ascunsion trying to steal second in the second inning. Capra also managed to get the only hit off rehabbing major leaguer Carter Capps by lining a 77 mile-per-hour breaking ball to left. Capra would swipe second uncontested but got no further in the fifth. Capps was up to 94-95 miles per hour.

Right fielder Griffin Conine made his Vancouver debut wearing #9 after wearing #10 in Spokane. His father, former major leaguer Jeff Conine, was in attendance to take it all in. The Blue Jays second-round pick from Duke University went 0-for-4 with a walk and scored on Contreras’ grand slam. Conine also made a strong throw from right field and nearly got Reinaldo Ilarraza at third base after tagging up from second. Lizardo could not hang on to the ball at third.

Contreras had a couple of gaffes on the night, one of them purely comic relief. Contreras was charged with an error in left when the ball clanked off his glove on a Illarraza fly ball to extend the fifth. Contreras had an adventure in the on-deck circle when he was sent to the ground on a Lizardo foul ball. Lizardo would later walk and Contreras cranked a double off the manual scoreboard from Wen-Hua Sung in center field. The C’s could not take advantage as Kirwer and Capra struck out. Andres Munoz was brought in to face Capra and struck him out on three pitches registering 100, 100 and 102.

Tri-City manager and former Toronto Blue Jay Mike McCoy came out to argue that a foul ball caught by Lizardo near the C’s dugout on the third base side should have not have counted. The catch was made in an area that is marked off as out of play according to the ground rules and McCoy had a good case. However, Tre Carter was ruled out on the play to end the fifth.

bryan_lizardo_near_slide_home Bryan Lizardo gets ready to slide into home plate with the C’s second run in the second inning Tuesday.

Kirwer made a nice running catch to help out his fellow Canadian McAffer by catching up to a fly ball at the warning track in center to start the sixth. Michael Curry then hit a slow roller to first that somehow remained fair along the first base line and that made for an easy unassisted putout by Guzman at first. The final out came when Justin Paulsen fouled out to Johnson on the third base side but not before Johnson collided with Lizardo at third base. Johnson was winded but was able to continue.

Ascunsion scored the lone run of the game for the Dust Devils after nearly hitting one over the short fence in field, settling for a double off Watts. A Becker single and a House walk loaded the bases but Watts helped himself out by fielding a comebacker from Illarraza after sawing off his bat. Watts fired it to Capra at second for the 1-6 fielder’s choice to get House at second.

sterling_guzman_single_batting_gloves Sterling Guzman adjusts his batting gloves after a single in the third inning Monday.

Vancouver had 10 hits and six walks in this one. Contreras, Guzman and Kirwer had two hits apiece. Podkul walked three times and every C’s hitter reached base at least once. They were 3-for-11 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on base. Vancouver is 4-8 on the season, three games behind 7-5 Everett for first place in the Northwest League North Division. Tri-City drops to 6-6 and Spokane is now 5-7.

The C’s play the second game of this three-game series at 7:05 pm Wednesday at the Nat. Lefthander Randy Pondler (0-2, 2.45) hopes it will be third time lucky in getting any type of run support other than zero. Henry Henry (0-0, 1.86) is the probable starter for Tri-City. The game will be on CanadiansBaseball.com and TSN 1040 with Rob Fai. The pre-game show is set for 6:00 pm.

Sean Wymer
Will McAffer
Marcus Reyes

Radar Gun Rundown

radar_gun_iconMurray was around 89-90 miles per hour with one of his two strikeouts at 89 MPH. Wymner had one strikeout at 90 and was at 75-76 and 92. McAffer’s offerings ranged 85-95 miler per hour, settling in at 90-92. Watts had one strikeout that clocked in at 90. He was around 88-90 and scraped 94. Reyes had strikeouts at 80 and 90 and ranged from 79-93.

C-Tweets

cs-tweetHighlights

Ryan Borucki‘s MLB debut
Jonathan Davis‘ cycle for New Hampshire
Jason Leblebijian is an International League All-Star
The Lansing Lugnuts make ESPN SportsCenter’s Top 10 List.

 

 

 Patrick Murphy appears on similar path as Ryan Borucki. Both drafted out of HS with TJ surgery shortly after signing. Battled injuries before blossoming at age 23 in Dunedin. Borucki made 18 starts at A+ in ’17 before moving to AA /AAA. Murphy currently at 14GS. #BlueJays

 What. A. Night. 😍 #AtTheNat pic.twitter.com/L1oXOhVqFL

 

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Published by Niall O'Donohoe

My name is Niall O’Donohoe and I am an avid follower of baseball. My blog beginnings began in 2007 with Batter’s Box under the alias #2JBrumfield. The blog formerly known as Niall On Baseball, C’s Plus Baseball strives to deliver plus coverage of the C’s through photos, observations and interviews of the players striving to make it to the major leagues. If you like what you see here, please spread the word about CsPlusBaseball.ca through your favourite social media platform. This blog began just before the C's championship season in 2017 and the goal is to deliver awesome content about Canada’s only affiliated professional minor league baseball club. Thanks a million for being here!

One thought on “C’s Recap – Contreras Crushes Dust Devils”

  1. Pingback: C’s Recap – Vancouver Canadians to Wear 1978 Jerseys for Throwback Thursdays in 2022 – C's Plus Baseball | A blog about the Vancouver Canadians baseball club

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