The Vancouver Canadians won their second straight game against the Everett AquaSox with a 9-5 victory at Ron Tonkin Field Thursday.
Everett starter and Kingston, Ontario native Matt Brash was not able to get out of the first inning. Tanner Kirwer took four pitches out of the strike zone and stole second base. He would get to third on a passed ball by Carter Bins that also doubled as ball four to Tanner Morris. Cameron Eden drilled a single to left to score Kirwer for the game’ first run. Spencer Horwitz reached on an error at first by Jake Anchia and that allowed Morris to score. Luis De Los Santos lined one up the middle to score Eden to make it 3-0 C’s. A 5-4 fielder’s choice from Ryan Gold plated Horwitz before Rafael Lantigua launched one over the wall for a two-out, two-run home run to give Vancouver a 6-love advantage. D.J. Neal‘s base hit to right made it a bat-around inning and forced Brash to leave the game. Brendan McGuigan struck out Kirwer to stop the bleeding.
Everett used a pair of two-out extra-base hits to get on the scoreboard in the second inning against Adam Kloffenstein. After striking out the first two hitters, Kloffenstein gave up a 0-2 ground-rule double to Anchia before giving up a triple to Joseph Rosa. Eden prevented an inside-the-park home run as he started a 9-6-2 relay to cut down Rosa at the plate to end the inning.
The Canadians matched that run in the second with a run-scoring triple of their own as Eden tripled to center to cash in a Morris leadoff walk. Horwitz scored Eden with an RBI groundout to second to put Vancouver ahead by a converted touchdown.
The AquaSox would chip away in the third with a pair of runs. A Connor Hoover infield single and Zach DeLoach ground-rule double were brought home on RBI groundouts by Austin Shenton and Bins as the latter put the ball in play against Kloffenstein after being behind two strikes in the count.
Everett would creep closer in the fourth inning with Tyler Keenan leading off with a double and Anchia working a one-out walk. A double by Rosa drove in Keenan before a wild pitch by Kloffenstein resulted in Anchia scoring from third.
Vancouver capped off the scoring when Kirwer lifted a fly ball over the wall in left-center off Tim Elliott for a solo shot in the sixth.
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The reason Everett could not draw any closer was due to the stellar pitching of Adrian Hernandez. The 21 year-old sat down the first five hitters in a row and made the last nine men return to the dugout from the batter’s box, issuing just two walks while striking out nine over five hitless innings to earn his second win as a Canadian.
Kloffenstein was cuffed for five runs on six hits and three walks over four frames but recorded five strikeouts and five groundouts.
The top third of Vancouver’s batting order was front and center in this one. Kirwer got things going by homering, singling, walking and stealing his 24th base of the year. Morris also reached base three times with a single and two walks. Eden had the other multi-hit game for Monty’s Mounties, scoring twice and driving in a pair of runs. Horwitz walked and Gold was hit by a pitch. Only Ronny Brito was kept off base as he went 0-for-4.
Elliott worked the last six innings for Everett and struck out 10 batters, giving up just the Kirwer home run among three hits and walking just one. Seattle’s fourth-round pick in 2019 out of Georgia stranded Lantigua at second after he reached on an error. He faced the minimum in the fourth and the fifth. Horwitz was caught stealing after a De Los Santos strikeout in the fourth. After the Kirwer home run, Elliott stranded a Morris single and two-base error by Shenton at second that put Horwitz in scoring position by striking out De Los Santos again. A Kirwer one-out single in the eighth was the last baserunner against Elliott.
Vancouver improves to 23-16 on the season. That leaves them five percentages points behind 22-15 Everett for second place and a half-game behind 23-15 Eugene in the league standings.
One notable omission from Everett’s league-leading offence was Mariners prospect outfielder Julio Rodriguez. He has been placed on the temporary inactive list according to the High-A West transactions page.
The transactions page also says North Vancouver native Will McAffer has been promoted from Double-A New Hampshire. McAffer had three saves and 16 strikeouts in 9-2/3 innings with the C’s this year. McAffer was 7-2 with a 3.68 earned run average for Vancouver in 2018.
Lefty Sean Mellen will take McAffer’s place as he has been called up from Low-A Dunedin. The 14th round pick of the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2019 was signed as a free agent by the Blue Jays in late May about one month after the Dodgers released the Northeastern University product. The 23 year-old from Boston is 6-foot-5 and weighs 215 pounds.
Luis Quinones will chuck the rawhide for Vancouver in the fourth game of this series Friday. Game time is 7:05 pm on CanadiansBaseball.com. Sam Ryan and Paxton Schultz are listed as the probable starters for the weekend.
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Nash Knight (2016) went 2-for-4 with a home run and Nick Allgeyer (2018) allowed just one run and struck out five in four innings to get the win as Buffalo scored a 5-2 win over Rochester. Logan Warmoth (2017) doubled, walked and stole a base, Cullen Large (2017) had a base hit and scored a run and Jackson McClelland (2015-2016) tossed two-thirds of a scoreless frame.
Brock Lundquist (2017) singled home two runs as part of a six-run seventh inning for New Hampshire. However, that came after Hartford scored the first 10 runs of the game as the Fisher Cats lost 10-6. Vinny Capra (2018) had two hits and Otto Lopez (2018) singled, walked and was hit by a pitch. He also recorded an assist from center field as he threw out a runner at the plate. Reggie Pruitt (2017) doubled and also had an assist by throwing out a runner at second from left field. Samad Taylor (2017) and L.J. Talley (2021) had a base on balls each.
Cavan Biggio (2016) was 1-for-4 and Rowdy Tellez (2014) took one for the team but Toronto lost again to the Yankees 8-4. Tayler Saucedo (2015) made his major league debut and struck out a batter in his perfect inning, retiring all three batters he faced.
Marcus Stroman (2012) struck out eight and got eight outs on the grass over seven innings. He surrendered just two runs on four hits and a walk but he took the loss as the Chicago Cubs blanked the New York Mets 2-0.
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