The Vancouver Canadians are building momentum for what they hope will be a playoff drive in the second half of the Northwest League season. The C’s upended the Tri-City Dust Devils 6-2 at Nat Bailey Stadium Monday for their second straight win.
The C’s put together a two-out rally in the second inning to open the scoring. Brett Wright kept the inning going by lining a single to left off Dust Devils starter Nick Thwaits. Dom Abbadessa hit a sharp ground ball that gave Tri-City second baseman Reynaldo Ilarraza in which he appeared to be knocked back a bit and Abbadessa beat the throw to first. First baseman Jason Pineda hurried a throw to home plate to try to get Wright but his throw was off-target and that allowed Wright to score. Wright and Abbadessa showed good hustle on the bases to make that run happen.
Vancouver added three more runs in the third when Tanner Morris doubled and scampered home on a Trevor Schwecke base hit. Will Robertson also singled and moved up a base along with Schwecke on a wild pitch. Jesus Lopez plated Schwecke with a sacrifice fly and McGregory Contreras would single home Robertson one out later.
Tri-City got to Adam Kloffenstein for a run in the fourth. Ilarraza singled and got into scoring position on a wild pitch. Jason Pineda hit a ground ball to short and Pineda was hit by the ball in return on the throw by Luis De Los Santos and that permitted Ilarazza to score.
Dominic DiSabatino took over for Tri-City on the mound in the fifth and walked the first two men he faced in Robertson and Lopez. De Los Santos rapped into a 4-6-3 double play that saw Robertson make it to third. Contreras beat out an infield single to score Robertson. Wright was nailed in the back by a pitch to push Contreras to second. Felix Minjarez took over for DiSabatino and he surrendered a solid single up the middle by Abbadessa to bring in Contreras.
The final run of the game belonged to Tri-City in the ninth. Pineda singled off Andy McGuire before getting to second on a Carlos Luis grounder to first and to third on a Kelvin Alarcon single. Mason House hit into a fielder’s choice that plated Pineda but McGuire struck out Alison Quintero swinging to end the game.
Adam Kloffenstein earned his first professional win by making it through five innings with just an unearned run on four hits and two walks. His strikeout and groundout totals were five. Grayson Huffman pitched two frames of one-hit ball, striking out the side in the seventh. McGuire took care of the final six outs.
Radar Gun Rundown
Kloffenstein clocked in at 75, 77 and 81-92 miles per hour. He recorded strikeouts at 87, 85, 83, 91 and 90. Huffman checked in from 78-79 and 92-95 with strikeouts of 79, 95 and 93. McGuire was around 85, 89-92 and 95 and his strikeout was at 89.
Monday’s radar gun readings have now been posted to Monday’s C’s Recap which you can find right here.
C-Notes
Lopez made a nice defensive play two batters into the game when he charged in from third base to retire Ilarraza. He was unable to make a play on a foul pop up from Matthew Acosta as the ball landed in front of the short wall beyond the C’s dugout before bouncing into the stands. Kloffenstein picked up Lopez by striking out Acosta to end the inning.
Luis singled up the middle with one away in the second on a ball that appeared to go through Kloffenstein under his arm but he induced a double play ball from Alarcon to end the inning.
Carter singled to second off Kloffenstein to keep the third inning alive. Kloffenstein’s pick-off throw was missed by Schwecke at first as the ball caromed off the wall and went right through the legs of the security man’s chair, allowing Carter to race to third. Kloffenstein would strand Carter by striking out Barley to end the frame.
The fifth inning did not start well for Kloffenstein when he surrendered a Quintero single and a Carter walk. A visit from pitching coach Demetre Kokoris helped get Kloffenstein back on track as he set down the next three hitters in order, including a strikeout of Jordy Barley.
Huffman wound up facing the minimum in his two innings. Pineda started the sixth with a base hit to right but Contreras threw him out at second. McGuire retired the side in order in the eighth to help the C’s set down eight in a row.
Adrian Ramos laid down a nice bunt by pushing it past Thwaits on the first base side to get on base in the fourth. Ramos had a stolen base later that frame but was also caught stealing in the eighth after drawing a walk against Deivy Mendez.
Contreras and Robertson led the C’s hit parade with two hits apiece with Contreras driving home a pair of runs.
Monty’s Mounties will go for the sweep against Tri-City in another 7:05 pm start at the Nat. William Gaston gets the start for Vancouver. Ignacio Feliz goes for Tri-City. Sportsnet 650 and CanadiansBaseball.com are where you can listen in with Rob Fai.
C-Tweets
C's Plus Baseball | A Vancouver Canadians Blog 