The Vancouver Canadians ended 2019 on a sour note as they lost 3-1 to the Everett AquaSox at Everett Memorial Stadium Sunday. Everett had Vancouver’s number all season by winning 14 out of the 18 games in the season series, going 7-2 at home and at Nat Bailey Stadium. The Canadians set a franchise record with 46 losses, surpassing the 2016 total when the club finished 29-45 and had its final two home games rained out. This year’s C’s had a winning percentage of .395, just ahead of the .392 mark three years ago.
2019 Toronto Blue Jays first round pick Alek Manoah was in line to get the start in the season finale for Vancouver but that honour went to 17 year-old right-hander Winder Garcia. The Venezuelan right-hander saw his team score first in this one. Adrian Ramos led off the third inning with a base hit to center off off AquaSox starter and Vancouver, Washington native Damon Casetta-Stubbs. He got into scoring position by stealing his ninth base of the year and moved around the bases on groundouts by Tanner Morris and Cameron Eden to cross home plate with the game’s first run.
Everett evened things up in the fourth when Utah Jones jumped on the first pitch he saw from Garcia and homered to right-center field. Until that point, Garcia retired the first nine hitters he faced. Cesar Izturis Jr. singled right after the Jones home run but Izturis was thrown out trying to steal second by Brett Wright after Carter Bins struck out swinging. Garcia would walk Robert Perez and Trent Tingelstad on full-count pitches and Juan Camacho loaded the bases on an infield single to short in which Trevor Schwecke made a diving stop to his right but he could not get enough mustard on the throw to second for force out Tingelstad. Garcia would get Brennon Kalawaihea to strike out swinging to leave the bases full.
The AquaSox came up empty against Gage Burland and Josh Almonte in the sixth and sevneth but would pull ahead in their final at-bat of the season. Parker Caracci walked Jones and Cesar Izturis Jr. to begin the eighth. Bins drove one to the warning track in right-center field where Ramos made the catch. Jones tagged up to go to third on the play. Caracci struck out Robert Perez looking for the second out and was a strike away from getting out of the jam. Instead, Tingelstad—the former Everett Community College Trojan—doubled to center on a 1-2 pitch to score Jones and Izturis.
The C’s got the winning run to the plate in the ninth when Luis De Los Santos singled to third and Dom Abbadessa singled one out later but Jarod Bayless struck out the side swinging to close the door on the 2019 season. Garrett Westberg got the win with a perfect eighth inning.
Radar Gun Rundown
Garcia was around 79 miles per hour on the low end and 93 on the high end He was around 90-92 with his heater. Burland was in the mid-70s and low 90s. Almonte was around the low-to-mid 90s and Caracci checked in at 79 and 92-93.
C-Notes
Wright was Vancouver’s first base runner when he took one for the team with one out in the second inning. De Los Santos followed with the first hit with a single to second. Both he and Wright advanced to third on a Schwecke ground out to first but Abbadessa flied out to leave them stranded.
De Los Santos had a two-out single in the fourth and Morris had a two-out base knock in the fifth but they were left on base.
The C’s best chance to break the tie came in the seventh against Kipp Rollings. Schwecke blooped one to left for a base hit and Abbadessa took one up the middle with one out before Morris walked to load the bases with two outs. Rollings got ahead of Eden with a first pitch before inducing a 6-4 fielder’s choice to get out of the inning.
Luis Joseph entertained the Everett crowd with a leadoff double off Garcia to begin the fifth. He did push-ups on the second base bag and showed good heads-up base running by tagging up on a foul ball behind home plate. Jones popped one up in foul territory and Wright made the catch near the home plate netting with his back facing the infield for the second out. Joseph was able to tag up from second and moved to third on the play. He would stay 90 feet away as Garcia got Izturis to ground out to second to get through five innings.
Burland finished up his season on a strong note with a 1-2-3 sixth inning as he struck out Bins before recording a pair of ground ball outs.
Almonte worked around a pair of singles by Kaleiwahea and Joseph to pitch a shutout seventh inning. He got help from Wright who picked off Joseph at first for the third out.
De Los Santos finished the season strong with a three-hit afternoon and batted .371 with a home run in his last 10 games. Abbadessa had the other multi-hit game by going 2-for-4. Morris reached twice with a single and a walk. The former Virginia Cavalier finished tied for second in the Northwest League with Tri-City’s Reinaldo Ilarraza with 49 bases on balls apiece, just two behind Everett’s Tingelstad. Schwecke and Ramos also joined the hit parade. Vancouver was 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left nine on.
For those keeping track of uniform numbers, Garcia wore #32 and Kyle Huckaby—son of former Toronto Blue Jays catcher and current catching coordinator Ken Huckaby—was assigned #4.
Congratulations to 2016 Vancouver Canadians right-hander T.J. Zeuch. He has been called up to Toronto to make his major league debut in Atlanta tonight. The Jays first round pick in 2016 threw a no-hitter against Rochester last month.
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