The Vancouver Canadians were done in again by the lone Canadian hitter on the Hillsboro Hops roster. North York, Ontario native Andy Yerzy clubbed a two-run home run off Randy Pondler in the sixth inning to break a scoreless tie as the Hops dumped the C’s 4-1 at Ron Tonkin Field Sunday.
Yerzy also provided the winning margin Saturday when his two-run single snapped a 1-1 deadlock in the eighth inning.
After Yerzy’s two-run shot that plated a Steven Leyton single, the Hops added two more runs in the sixth on a Jorge Barrosa RBI single off Josh Almonte and a bases-loaded walk by Nick Dalesandro. Jesus Marriaga scored the third run after being hit by a 1-2 pitch by Pondler and stealing second and third. The Dalesandro walk came on the heels of free passes issued to Daniel Wasinger and Joe Gillette by Almonte that brought home Barrosa.
The C’s got one run back when Tanner Morris worked a leadoff walk against Trevor McKenna in the seventh and Yorman Rodriguez kept the inning alive with a two-out single. McGregory Contreras then picked up a ground-rule double to right field to score Morris and bring Rodriguez to third. Brett Wright had a chance to tie it with one swing of the bat but Yaramil Hiraldo got a flyball out to left to end the rally.
The C’s offence went down in order over the final two innings with Bryan Menendez getting the save.
C-Notes
The tone was set early for the C’s in this one. Morris worked a one-out walk, stole second and made it to third on a Luis De Los Santos groundout but Deyni Olivero struck out Will Robertson to leave Morris stranded.
C’s starter Gabriel Ponce got into a big jam in the first when Ricky Martinez led off with a double and issued one-out walks to Yerzy and Marriaga but he got a 6-3 double play to get out of it.
Contreras collected a one-out single to second and moved up 90 more feet on an Olivero balk but Wright and Davis Schneider went down swinging.
Vancouver’s best chance for a big inning came in the third when Cameron Eden reached on an infield single to short with one away and stole second. Walks by Morris and De Los Santos loaded the bases but Robertson struck out swinging on a 3-2 pitch and Rodriguez hit into an unassisted fielder’s choice at third to snuff out that threat.
After working a 1-2-3 second, Ponce allowed a pair of singles to Dalesandro and Leyton in the third. Ponce exited the game in favour of Pondler who produced a 3-6-3 double play off the bat of Yerzy to end the frame.
Vancouver was able to load up the bases again in the fourth when Wright was hit by a pitch with one and Adrian Ramos and Eden got aboard on two-out walks but Hops reliever Jacob Stevens—who relieved Olivero after walking Ramos—got Morris to ground out to first for out number three.
A one-out rally by Vancouver in the fifth on a Robertson walk and a Rodriguez hit by pitch was wasted when Contreras rapped into a 6-4-3 double play. A two-out single by Ramos in the sixth also did not go anywhere.
The C’s misery with runners in scoring position continues as they went 1-for-12, leaving 10 men on base.
Vancouver can only hope for a split against Hillsboro as they play the series finale at 7:05 pm. CanadiansBaseball.com and MiLB.TV will have the broadcast. The C’s are now 3-7 on the season.
Parker Caracci made his professional debut for Vancouver as he worked a 1-2-3 eighth inning. The 22 year-old righthander from Mississippi was taken in the 21st round by Toronto in this year’s draft after being taken in the 37th round by the Jays in 2018. Caracci is wearing #35.
Catcher Ryan Sloniger was also added to the C’s roster. The 22 year-old catcher from Penn State was taken in the 38th round by Toronto in this month’s draft.
Leaving Vancouver is righthander Juan Nunez as he has been promoted to Lansing. The 23 year-old Dominican was with the C’s for the 2017 and 2018 seasons. He started this year with four shutout frames before making his Midwest League debut with a shutout inning for the Lugnuts during their 9-6 win in Dayton Sunday.
Congratulations to 2018 Canadians Josh Winckowski and Nick Podkul on their promotions from Lansing to Dunedin. Winckowski spun five shutout frames in his Dunedin debut Sunday as the D-Jays blanked Palm Beach 8-0. The 20 year-old righthander was 6-3 with a 2.32 ERA in Lansing. Podkul also made his Florida State League debut by drawing a walk and scoring a run. The 22 year-old posted a .369 on-base percentage in 57 games with the Lugnuts.
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