The Vancouver Canadians kept the Everett AquaSox bats in check long enough to pick up a 4-3 victory at Ron Tonkin Field Wednesday.
The AquaSox did not give C.J. Van Eyk any time to settle into the game. Kaden Polcovich hit the first pitch of the game for a double and was at third one pitch when Julio Rodriguez flied out to centre. Austin Shenton grounded out to second but that was enough to bring in Polcovich to put the Frogs ahead.
Vancouver answered with a two-out rally in the second inning. Doubles to left, right and left off Juan Then by Sebastian Espino, Ryan Gold and Luis De Los Santos put the C’s in front 2-1.
The C’s added another run in the third when Tanner Kirwer started the frame with a walk. He stole second and moved up another 90 feet on a Philip Clarke grounder to first. Kirwer then managed to scamper home on a Spencer Horwitz comebacker to the mound.
Vancouver put together another rally in the fourth when Espino and Gold singled and took an extra base on a soft grounder to short by De Los Santos. D.J. Neal then singled to left to score Espino to make it 4-1 for the C’s.
The AquaSox got to Brandon Eisert for a run in the sixth. Zach DeLoach doubled with one away and got to third on a Patrick Frick infield single to second. Joseph Rosa grounded out to third to bring in DeLoach with Everett’s second run.
Everett threatened in the ninth when they got two runners aboard with one out against Parker Caracci. Polcovich managed an infield single to second and Rodriguez reached base when Espino made a throwing error from third base to put runners on the corners. Shenton grounded out into a 4-6 fielder’s choice to score Polcovich but Caracci struck out DeLoach swinging to end it.
C-Notes
The Canadians tried to make it four consecutive innings with a run when Horwitz hit a one-out double to center and went to third on a Tanner Morris grounder to short. Horwitz tried to score when a Then pitch bounced away from catcher Jake Anchia but Anchia was able to tag out Horwitz to end the inning.
Vancouver had another scoring opportunity in the seventh. Neal drew a leadoff walk against David Ellingston and stole second with two outs. Eden then got aboard on a two-out infield single to first and proceeded to steal second to put two runners in scoring position but Horwitz grounded out to second to end the rally.
The eighth inning saw Morris get a leadoff single against off Evan Johnson in the eighth. Morris would get into scoring position on a wild pitch and a throwing error by Anchia but Ellingston struck out De Los Santos for his third whiff of the inning.
Espino and Gold both doubled and singled while Eden and Neal singled and walked. Eden stole his 19th base of the year and Neal swiped two bags to give him six on the year. Kirwer drew a walk and pilfered his league-leading 23rd bag.
Van Eyk settled down after a bumpy first inning. He retired seven in a row after a leadoff walk in the second, yielding just a walk and a single the rest of the way as he struck out seven.
Eisert had baserunners to deal with in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings. He gave up a couple of one-out singles in the seventh before striking out the side but another pair of one-out knocks led to his exit. He gave up a run on six hits but struck out four in 2/1-3 innings.
Caracci stranded the two Eisert runners by retiring the first two hitters he faced and survived the ninth to collect his fifth save of the year. He had an unearned run on his ledger on one hit but struck out two over 1-2/3 innings.
The C’s have placed Nick Fraze on the seven-day injured list according to the High-A West League transactions page. The right-hander missed his turn in the rotation during the series in Spokane. After pitching six innings in three consecutive starts, he only made it through 3-1/3 innings in a loss to Eugene June 4. Fraze is 3-1 with a 2.05 earned run average and has struck out 27 batters in 26-1/3 innings.
The Canadians have released its latest Game Program which you can find right here, featuring an interview with pitcher Paxton Schultz.
The third game of this six-game set will be played Thursday night. Luis Quinones is set to throw the game’s first pitch at 7:05 pm. You can tune in on CanadiansBaseball.com.
C’s Alumni Report
Nate Pearson (2017) gave up just two runs on two hits and two walks and struck out three over six innings but Buffalo was blanked by Rochester 2-0. Cullen Large (2017) drew a walk.
Otto Lopez (2018) and Vinny Capra (2018) had two hits apiece, Samad Taylor (2017) doubled and stole a base and Brock Lundquist (2017) contributed a sacrifice fly but New Hampshire fell 6-4 to Hartford in Game 1 of their doubleheader. Fitz Stadler (2018) pitched two shutout innings with two strikeouts and Mike Ellenbest (2016) tossed a scoreless frame with a punchout in relief.
Taylor added a pair of two-run homers and drew a walk and Jon Harris (2015) pitched 2-2/3 shutout innings with three strikeouts and stranded a runner but Hartford rallied to win the second game 8-7 in 9 innings. Otto Lopez doubled and singled twice, Nick Podkul (2018) added an RBI single among his two hits, Chris Bec (2018) singled and stole a base and Reggie Pruitt (2017) also had a knock and a swipe. L.J. Talley (2021) had a fielder’s choice RBI.
Alex Nolan (2019) won his second start of the year for Dunedin by allowing just one over five innings in a 6-3 victory over Clearwater. The Burlington, Ontario righty struck out three and induced five outs on the ground, scattering six hits and two walks.
Cavan Biggio (2016) homered and walked but Toronto fell back to .500 with a 3-2 loss to the New York Yankees.
Jon Berti (2011) had two hits and a walk in Miami’s 1-0 loss to St. Louis.
Chase De Jong (2013) gave up a solo homer in four innings and had a base hit but he took the loss in Pittsburgh’s 3-1 setback to Washington.
Kevin Pillar (2011) homered and doubled, Sean Reid-Foley (2014) got the win in relief and Miguel Castro (2014) struck out two in a shutout inning as the New York Mets doubled up the Chicago Cubs 6-3.
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