Randy Pondler picked up his third victory with six shutout innings in Hillsboro Friday.
The Vancouver Canadians have evened the season series against the Hillsboro Hops after a 7-0 victory at Ron Tonkin Field Saturday. The victory lifted the C’s over the .500 for the second half at 6-5.
The game’s first run did not come until the top of the fourth inning. Jake Brodt drew a leadoff walk against Luis Frias and got into scoring position when Frias threw one to the backstop. Jesus Severino singled to right to move Brodt ahead another 90 feet before a one-out sacrifice fly to right by Sterling Guzman against reliever Justin Garcia scored Brodt to make it 1-0 Vancouver.
The single and wild pitch formula was used again by Vancouver in the sixth when Severino singled again to right before Garcia uncorked a wild pitch. Nick Podkul then blooped a single to left with two outs to score Severino.
A two-run single by Brandon Polizzi keyed a four-run rally in the seventh for Vancouver.
The C’s busted the game open in the seventh when they loaded the bases on a Severino walk and singles by Christopher Bec to left and Guzman to right against Yeison Santana. It didn’t look like the rally was going to amount to much when Podkul hit into a 5-2-3 double play. Brandon Polizzi salvaged the effort with a base hit up the middle to score Bec and Guzman. Polizzi would steal second and get to third on a Tanner Kirwer single to short against Cristofer Ogando. Otto Lopez would also reach on an infield single as his grounder to second wound up scoring Polizzi and Kirwer.
Hops catcher Zachary Jones got more exercise chasing horribly awry pitches in the ninth. Brodt got to third on an Ogando wild offering after a leadoff double to center. Brodt would score on a Severino comebacker to the mound.
Randy Pondler pitched six shutout innings before Justin Watts put up a zero in the seventh. Marcus Reyes got the final six outs to wrap this one up.
C-Notes
Pondler bailed himself out of a jam in the first inning after Geraldo Perdomo singled and stole second with one out. Pondler handled a tapper to the mound off the bat of Andy Yerzy and threw to third where Bryan Lizardo tagged out Perdomo. A passed ball by Bec allowed Yerzy to get into scoring position but Pondler struck out Francis Martinez to end the inning.
The C’s got their first baserunner in the second inning when Bec drew a walk, stole second and went to third after a Jones throwing error. Guzman was caught looking at strike three to strand Bec 90 feet away.
Vancouver threatened again in the third when Polizzi singled with one out and Lopez singled with two outs. Polizzi also stole third but Lizardo went down swinging to leave runners at the corners.
Christopher Bec was on base four times in Hillsboro Friday night.
Lopez, Severino, Guzman and Polizzi all had two-hit games with Severino drawing a walk. Bec was the on-base leader with a hit and three walks. Eight C’s hitters had at least one hit and the other had a walk. Vancouver had 12 hits and seven walks while striking out 14 times.
Hillsboro had a chance to get the game’s first run in the third when Jones led off with a single against Pondler and stole second with one out. Jake McCarthy had an infield single to third that kept Jones at second. McCarthy was thrown out by Bec at second while Jones made it to third. Perdomo would get aboard on a walk before Yerzy grounded out to second to strand two more runners.
Pondler allowed a Ryan Tufts double with one out in the fourth but he finished up by retiring nine of the last 10 hitters he faced. The Nicaraguan lefty scattered four hits and a walk and struck out three over six innings. Watts worked a perfect seventh with one strikeout. Reyes got himself into a pickle in the eighth by loading the bases on a Dan Swain single, a McCarthy hit by pitch and a Yerzy walk but got Martinez to ground out to first to get out of it.
Reyes had one more baserunner to contend with when William Gorman reached on an error by Guzman at first as he could not handle to throw from Podkul but Reyes would strike out the side to give him four strikeouts on the evening to offset a hit, a walk and a plunk.
Vinny Capra has been called up to the Lansing Lugnuts of the Midwest League.
Vinny Capra has been promoted to Lansing and made his Lugnuts debut Friday. The 22 year-old shortstop batted .235 with 13 extra-base hits and 18 runs batted in over 39 games. He had an on-base percentage of .344 and stole eight bases in 10 tries.
The C’s continue the series against the Hops Saturday with Josh Winckowski (3-4, 3.40) facing Jackson Goddard (0-0, 6.55). The game is on CanadiansBaseball.com with Rob Fai and MiLB. TV.
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