Vancouver Canadians Griffin Conine

Griffin Conine drove in three runs in Vancouver’s victory over Boise Sunday.

C's RecapThe Vancouver Canadians pulled off their third win in a row against the Boise Hawks after a 5-2 victory at Nat Bailey Stadium Sunday afternoon. The C’s remain a single game ahead of Spokane for first place in the North Division as the Indians kept pace with their fourth straight win over Salem-Keizer. Vancouver’s record is now 19-12 in the second half.

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Reilly Johnson crosses home plate with the first run of the game Sunday.

The game was scoreless until the bottom of the third. Reilly Johnson reached on an error at short by LeeMarcus Boyd and scored all the way from first on a double to center by Christopher Bec off lefthander Miguel Ausua. The C’s could only get Bec as far as third as Jake Brodt popped out to first in foul territory to end the inning.

Elio Silva pitched four shutout innings but he would not get out of the fifth. Boyd singled up the middle and Terrin Vavra walked to begin the rally. A Willie Abreu groundout to third advanced both runners before a Luke Morgan grounder to second brought in Boyd for the first Boise run. Willie MacIver would give the Hawks the lead with an RBI single to left to score Vavra. Denis Diaz was brought in out of the bullpen. He threw a wild pitch that moved MacIver into scoring position but got Cade Harris looking at strike three to stop the rally.

Vancouver Canadians Otto Lopez

Otto Lopez heads to third on a leadoff triple in the sixth Sunday.

Vancouver evened things up in the sixth when Otto Lopez tripled to right and tagged up to score on a Griffin Conine sacrifice fly to center off Jesse Lepore.

The game would stay tied until the bottom of the eighth when Bec and Lopez heard ball four on pitches by lefthander P.J. Poulin with one out. In a lefty-on-lefty matchup, Conine bested Poulin by dropping a double down the left field line to score Bec and Lopez to make it 4-2 C’s.

Brodt followed with another two-bagger to left to cash in Conine to provide a three-run cushion.

Vancouver Canadians Justin Watts

Justin Watts ran his record to 5-0 with two shutout innings against Boise Sunday.

Connor Law closed it out in the ninth after Diaz and Justin Watts teamed up to provide 3-1/3 shutout innings out of the bullpen.

Radar Gun Rundown

radar_gun_iconSilva recorded strikeouts at 78, 78, 85 and 89 miles per hour. His range of pitches ran from 76-91. Diaz had a strikeout at 82 and came in at 78 on the low end and 90 at the high end. Watts had whiffs at 87, 85, 94 and 92. His lowest pitch was 69 and his highest was 95. Law had a strikeout at 92 and was up to 94 at the high end and 82 at the low end.

Vancouver Canadians Connor Law

Connor Law collected his fourth save with a perfect ninth inning Sunday.

C-Notes

C's NotesSilva escaped some sticky situations in this one. The lefthander was stung for a triple by Vara to start the game but kept Vavra at first after fielding a comebacker from Abreu for the first out. That did not come easy as Silva had trouble making the throw but Brodt bailed him out by scooping the ball out of the dirt and applying the tag on Abreu to get the out. Silva walked Morgan but kept the two runners on the corners by striking out MacIver looking and Harris swinging.

Silva danced with the devil again in the second when he walked Daniel Jipping and gave up a single to L.J. Hatch. After uncorking a wild pitch to move the runners up, Silva rung up Hidekel Gonzalez on strikes for the first out before getting Boyd to pop out to first in foul territory. Vavra would drive one deep to center but Tanner Kirwer was able to run it down in front of the manual scoreboard to send Boise away again.

Silva stranded a two-out single by MacIver that was sandwiched by a Morgan liner to first and a Harris liner to left to get out of the third. Silva enjoyed his first 1-2-3 inning in the fourth that included snaring a liner off the bat of Hatch.

Vancouver Canadians Jake Brodt Denis Diaz Reilly Johnson

Jake Brodt (#33) and Denis Diaz smile while Reilly Johnson pats Diaz on the back after the first out in the top of the sixth.

Diaz retired all four men he faced to get the game to the bottom of the sixth. He was struck by a Jipping ground ball but the ball deflected to Brodt at first base for the first out of the inning.

Boise Hawks Terrin Vavra

Terrin Vavra hunches down in frustration after being called out on strikes in the seventh inning.

Watts gave up a base hit to Boyd to start the seventh but he struck out Vavra, Abreu and Morgan to leave Boyd and his stolen base at second. Watts would whiff Harris and Jipping to wrap up a perfect eighth. Law bracketed a Gonzalez groundout to second with strikeouts of Hatch and Boyd to finish things off.

Silva yielded two runs on five hits and three walks and struck out four over 4-2/3 innings. Diaz struck out one in 1-1/3 perfect frames and Watts whiffed five over two shutout innings of one-hit ball. Law rung up two in a perfect ninth.

Boise Hawks Riley Pint

Riley Pint reacts after being called for a balk in the first inning.

The Canadians had to face Colorado’s first round pick of 2016 on the mound. Riley Pint ran into trouble with a four-pitch walk to Bec to begin the  bottom of the first with the fourth pitch buzzing the tower of the C’s designated hitter. Pint then balked Bec to second but he retired Lopez on a popout to first. Pint then threw one to the backstop to put Bec 90 feet away from scoring but Pint struck out Conine and got Brodt to ground out to short to end his one-inning stint. Pint reached 99 miles per hour on the radar gun.

Vancouver had something going in the second when McGregory Contreras led off with a single before Nick Podkul got a one-out base rap. Ausua would pick off Contreras at second but stayed in a rundown long enough for Podkul to get into scoring position. Sterling Guzman would ground out to short as Boyd ranged well to his left and made a strong throw to leave Podkul at second.

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Christopher Bec got on base three times for Vancouver Sunday.

Bec was the on-base leader with a hit and two walks. Lopez reached twice with a base hit and a base on balls. Conine was 1-for-3 with a two-run double and a sacrifice fly. Brodt had an RBI double while Contreras and Podkul also made a dent in the hit column.

Brandon Polizzi entered the game defensively for Contreras in left field to begin the ninth inning. That decision may have been made after Contreras had trouble with a Vavra triple in the ninth on Saturday. Vancouver had six hits and three walks and went down swinging six times. The C’s were 2-for-11 with runners 180 feet away or less and stranded four men.

Joey Murray (0-1, 2.08) will start the finale of this five-game set against Boise. Lefthander Alec Byrd goes to thie hill for Boise (2-3, 3.31). Pregame show is at 6:00 pm on TSN 1040 followed by the play-by-play with Rob Fai at 7:05 pm. The game can also be heard on CanadiansBaseball.com.

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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!

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