The Vancouver Canadians have their first win in Everett this season after doubling up the AquaSox 10-5 at Everett Memorial Stadium Friday.
Rafael Lantigua provided an early boost for Monty’s Mounties by poking the fifth pitch of the game from Everett starter Tim Elliott over the wall in left-center field.
The AquaSox answered back in their first at-bat as Zach DeLoach and Patrick Frick greeted Canadians starter Paxton Schultz with base hits. A 4-6 fielder’s choice by Austin Shenton and a 5-4 FC by Kaden Polcovich led to DeLoach scoring the first Everett run. Polcovich stole second and scored on a single by Jack Larsen to put the home side ahead. Cade Marlowe doubled to right and Larsen tried to score all the way from first but Eric Rivera started a 9-4-2 relay to Tanner Morris that ended in Philip Clarke tagging out Larsen at the plate to keep the score at 2-1.
The C’s would pull ahead in the top of the third. Morris doubled to left field off Elliott and trotted up another 90 feet on a passed ball by Jake Anchia. Sebastian Espino then walked and he made it to second on a wild pitch. Another wild offering from Elliott allowed Morris to race home with the tying run. Luis De Los Santos gave the C’s the lead when he doubled to center to score Espino.
Vancouver put together another rally in the fourth when Clarke lined a one-out single to right off Elliott and Davis Schneider doubled to left to put runners in scoring position. A two-base throwing error by Austin Shenton at third on a Lantigua ground ball allowed Clarke to cross the dish with the fourth Canadians run. Morris then lined a single to right that plated Schneider and Lantigua to make it 6-3.
The AquaSox got one run back in the fourth when Connor Hoover doubled off Schultz to begin the frame. A one-out double by DeLoach got Hoover over to third before Patrick Frick chased Schultz from the game with a run-scoring single to sweep in Hoover. That was the end of the line for Schultz as he was replaced by Cobi Johnson. He stranded the two runners left behind by Schultz by striking out Shenton and Polcovich.
Vancouver responded in the top of the fifth off Elliott when D.J. Neal tripled to right and came home on a Rivera single up the middle to up the visitors lead to 7-3.
Everett would cut the deficit in half in their half of the fifth inning. Marlowe made it on base with a one-out infield single off Johnson and got into scoring position by swiping second. Anchia drew a full-count walk before a Hoover double drove in Marlowe and advanced Anchia to third. A Cody Grosse sacrifice fly allowed Anchia to tag up and score the fifth run for the AquaSox.
Morris provided some breathing room for the C’s in the sixth when he took Bernie Martinez deep over the wall in right field for a leadoff homer.
The top of the eighth saw Vancouver round out the scoring when Espino’s right field single scored a Lantigua double to center off Fred Villarreal. A wild pitch and a Ryan Gold fly ball to right pushed Espino another 180 feet before another Anchia passed ball allowed him to score the 10th Canadians run.
C-Notes
Lantigua, Morris, De Los Santos and Schneider all had three-hit nights to spearhead Vancouver’s 17-hit assault on four Everett pitchers. The C’s had at least one runner on base for all nine innings. Morris and De Los Santos were the on-base leaders by drawing a walk apiece. Morris drove in three runs and only needed a triple to complete the cycle.
Espino got aboard three times with two hits and a walk. Clarke had a knock and a walk while Neal and Rivera had the other base knocks. Rivera stole his fourth base of the year.
Schultz yielded three runs over 3-1/3 innings on eight hits and two walks while striking out two. Johnson evened his record to 1-1 by stranding two runners for Schultz before giving up two runs in 1-2/3 innings on two hits, two walks and a hit by pitch. He also struck out a pair.
Parker Caracci shaved his ERA down to an even 1.00 with two shutout innings. He matched a pair of walks with a couple of strikeouts.
Roither Hernandez got the final six outs in succession, punching out one.
Neal made a diving catch towards the left field line that robbed Marlowe of a potential double and prevented a Larsen walk from advancing.
Clarke had leave the game in the bottom of the seventh after an injury behind the plate. The former Vanderbilt catcher injured his hand on the backswing by DeLoach that was ruled batter’s inference. The strikeout neutralized a Connor Hoover walk for an inning-ending double play. Gold moved from first base to don the catching gear and Spencer Horwitz.
Emerson Hancock was listed as Everett’s probable starter for Friday night but was scratched instead. That’s the second time this season that the 2020 first-round pick by the Seattle Mariners was a last-second scratch against Vancouver. The sixth overall pick in last year’s draft was selected to the Futures Game in Colorado July 11 along with former AquaSox outfielder Julio Rodriguez who was promoted to Double-A Arkansas earlier in the week. Hancock did pitch once against Monty’s Mounties when he tossed five innings of one-run ball, striking out eight to get the victory June 19.
Vancouver gained ground on Eugene and Everett as the Emeralds finally lost a game to Hillsboro. The 27-25 C’s are 6-1/2 games back of Eugene and six back of Everett. The top two teams will advance to the High-A West championship final.
Brian Rapp will make his third start in a C’s uniform in the fourth game of this six-game set. 2019 Mariners first-rounder George Kirby will be on the hill for Everett in another 7:05 first pitch on CanadiansBaseball.com
Canadians president Andy Dunn was on Sportsnet 650 in Vancouver with Caroline Frolic and Lindsey Horsting to talk about when the team may return to play Nat Bailey Stadium.
Baseball America spoke with 2011 Canadians outfielder Kevin Pillar about his career.
C’s Alumni Report
Buffalo was a 5-2 winner over Lehigh Valley Friday.
- Rowdy Tellez (2014) – 2/3, HR, BB
- Richard Ureña (2014) – 2/3, RF Assist
- Logan Warmoth (2017) – 1/3
- Nash Knight (2016) – 0/2, BB
Dunedin edged Palm Beach 5-4 Friday.
- Gabriel Ponce (2019) – 1.0IP 3H 2R/ER 1BB 2K, SV (5)
Alek Manoah (2019) pitched seven shutout innings, striking out 10 (including seven in a row) as Toronto trounced Tampa Bay 11-1. Nick Allgeyer (2018) made his major league debut in his second call-up to Toronto, pitching a perfect ninth inning. Cavan Biggio (2016) had a 1-for-3 night with a walk.
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