The Vancouver Canadians lost their third in a row after a 12-6 defeat by the Hillsboro Hops at Ron Tonkin Field Friday.
C’s starter C.J. Van Eyk faced the minimum three batters in the first inning after inducing a 6-4-3 double play from Axel Andueza to wipe out a leadoff single from Dominic Canzone in the first inning but the second inning was Van Eyk’s undoing.
A pair of infield singles to short and third by Tristin English and Cam Coursey surrounded an Eduardo Diaz base hit loaded the bases to start the frame. Van Eyk rallied to strike out Nick Dalesandro swinging and Reece Hampton looking but he did not get out the inning unscathed. Roman Ruiz took a 3-2 pitch high and inside to bring in English with the first run. The big blow was a fly ball to the warning track in center field from Canzone that Eric Rivera appeared to misjudge and that resulted in a bases-clearing triple to make it 4-0 Hops. Axel Andueza put the exclamation point on the rally by lining one over the fence in left-center for a two-run home run. Van Eyk would strike out the side by getting Spencer Brickhouse on three pitches.
The Canadians would chop the lead in half in the top of the fourth off Hops starter Justin Vernia. Tanner Morris started the rally with a ground-rule leadoff double to right-center field and Sebastian Espino followed with a visit to the same gap in right-center that resulted in a standoff RBI triple. Ryan Gold put the ball in play by bouncing a ground ball to second that allowed Espino to cross the plate with Vancouver’s second run. Spencer Horwitz one-hopped the ball to the center field fence for a double after Canzone was playing Horwitz towards right-center. D.J. Neal reached base on a tough error charged to Coursey at second base as the ball appeared to take a tricky hop off the turf before deflecting off Coursey’s glove to put runners at first and third. Davis Schneider produced a sacrifice fly to right-center to bring home Horwitz.
Van Eyk got out of the third by stranding a pair of base hits but he would not get out of the fourth. Ruiz beat out an infield single to third in which a bobble by Morris allowed Ruiz the time he needed to reach base safely. That was compounded by Van Eyk who hit Canzone with a pitch before airmailing a tapper from Andueza to second with an off-balance throw that resulted in Ruiz coming around to score. Canzone tried to score as well but Rivera was able to start an 8-6-2 relay to cut down Canzone at the dish. That was the end of the line for Van Eyk. Lefthander Sean Mellen struck out Brickhouse looking for the second out of the inning but a wild pitch allowed Andueza to score from third to increase the Hops advantage to 8-3.
The C’s fought back with another three-run inning in the fifth. Rivera grounded a single up the middle off Vernia with nobody out and went to second when De Los Santos bounced one through to right. Morris followed with another base hit to center to score Rivera with Vancouver’s fourth run. Espino struck out on a 3-2 pitch but Gold drove in De Los Santos with a base hit to right. Kyler Stout took over on the hill for Hillsboro and threw a wild pitch that allowed Gold to make it into second. Hops catcher Nick Dalesandro had trouble locating the ball in the dirt which was right in front of the umpire so Morris held his ground at third. Dalesandro had another misadventure during the same Horwitz at bat when he lost a foul popup on the right side of the infield. He was not able to hang on to the ball when he stretched to make the catch near the Hops on-deck circle. Horwitz was able to draw a walk on a 3-2 pitch and D.J. Neal did likewise to allow Morris to come in to score. With the bases still loaded, the Canadians had a couple of cracks at it to draw even closer, tie the game or even take the lead but Stout struck out Schneider and Andres Guerra to end the frame.
The Hops went back to work on Mellen in the fifth when Eduardo Diaz led off with a single and raced to third on another base hit by Coursey who went to second on an offline throw by Espino in left. Dalesandro lunged for a pitch and bounced it to De Los Santos at short who bobbled it but spun around and recovered to make the throw to get Dalesandro at first. It appeared Dalesandro was safe but he did get Diaz home for Hillsboro’s ninth run. Hampton then flared a single to center to score Coursey for run number 10.
Coursey started a seventh inning rally for the Hops with a one-out base hit off Cobi Johnson on an 0-2 pitch. A pickoff throw by Johnson to first was off the mark and Coursey advanced to second. Dalesandro then singled to score Courcey to give the Hops a five-run lead.
Hillsboro’s final run came in the eighth against Parker Caracci. A one-out walk by Andueza and a Brickhouse double put two runners in scoring position. A sac fly by English allowed Andueza to come on home.
C-Notes
Gold had a three-hit night but was denied a three-base hit in the second inning. He flared a base hit to left field that skipped past a charging Hampton. Backing up the play was Canzone and he was able to throw out Gold who made a headfirst slide at third for the first out of the inning.
The Canadians were turned away in the third when Schneider singled to left and Rivera did the same one out later but a perfectly positioned Coursey handled a ground ball near the second base bag to start a 4-3 double play off the bat of De Los Santos.
Morris’ two-out walk in the sixth against Justin Lewis was stranded and Rivera grounded into a 6-4-3 twin-killing against Lewis to end the eighth after a Schneider leadoff walk.
The ninth inning saw Morris earn another free pass after four consecutive balls from Bobby Ay with one away and Gold singled Morris to third with a single to left but Horwitz grounded into a 5-6 force-out at second to end the game.
Gold had a three-hit night with a double but Morris was the on-base leader with a double, a single and two walks. Rivera had the other multi-hit game by going 2-for-4.
Van Eyk made through 3-1/3 innings and was charged with eight runs, seven of them earned. The damage was done on nine hits, a walk and a hit by pitch. He struck out six with the strike three pitches coming on a curve, a high heater, another curve, a slider, another Uncle Charlie and a fastball.
Mellen allowed a Van Eyk runner to score on his watch and allowed two of his own on three hits over 1-2/3 innings while striking out three.
Johnson was tagged for an unearned run in the seventh after retiring the Hops on just six pitches in the sixth. He did strike out the side in the seventh.
Caracci gave up a run in the eighth on a hit and a walk but recorded a strikeout.
Vancouver’s record is now 31-33 and remain 5-1/2 games behind Eugene for the last playoff spot in the High-A West and 10 games back of Everett for first. The C’s are now just one game ahead of Spokane and two ahead of Hillsboro.
The Canadians should be getting some of their walking wounded back shortly. Righthander Colton Laws is off the injured list and is on a rehab assignment with the Florida Coast League Blue Jays. Outfielder Will Robertson is also on rehab with the FCL club after coming off the IL earlier in the week. Laws gave up a hit in a one-inning start and Robertson drew a walk in three plate appearances as the FCL Jays downed the Yankees <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="http://<!– wp:paragraph –> <p>The Canadians should be getting some of their walking wounded back shortly. Righthander <strong>Colton Laws</strong> is off the injured list and is on a rehab assignment with the Florida Coast League Blue Jays. Outfielder <strong>Will Robertson</strong> is also on rehab with the FCL club after coming off the IL earlier in the week. Laws gave up a hit in a one-inning start and Robertson drew a walk in three plate appearances as the FCL Jays downed the Yankees 12-7 in Dunedin.</p> 12-7 in Dunedin. Robertson had an RBI triple, a walk and two runs scored for the FCL Bluebirds in a 6-5 win over the Tigers Thursday.
The C’s look to Adam Kloffenstein to help put an end to their three-game losing skid. Drey Jameson will fire the first pitch for Hillsboro at 7:05 p.m. on CanadiansBaseball.com and MiLB.TV.
C’s Alumni Report
Buffalo edged Lehigh Valley 4-3 Friday.
- Riley Adams – 1/3
- Logan Warmoth – 1/3, 2B, SB (11), BB
- Nash Knight – 1/4, R
- Zach Logue – 5.0IP 4H 3R 2ER 2BB 2K (W, 2-1)
New Hampshire was a 5-2 winner in Hartford.
- Chavez Young – 0/4, BB, SB (6)
- L.J. Talley – 1/4, BB
- Vinny Capra – 0/3, BB, R
- Kevin Vicuña – 2/4, HR (1), 4RBI
- Reggie Pruitt – 0/3, BB, SB (6)
- Will McAffer – 1.0IP 3H 1R/ER 0BB 1K
- Graham Spraker – 1.0IP 1H 0R/ER 0BB 2K (W, 2-0)
Dunedin outslugged Clearwater 15-10.
Gabriel Ponce – 2.0IP 0H 0R/ER 3BB 3K
Cavan Biggio was 1-for-3 with a walk and Ryan Borucki returned from the injured list to pitch a shutout seventh with two strikeouts as Toronto trampled Texas 10-2.
Jon Berti was 1-for-2 with an RBI and a run scored in Miami’s 5-2 loss to Philadelphia.
Marcus Stroman pitched five innings of two-run ball and Miguel Castro tossed a scoreless frame in the New York Mets 4-1 loss to Pittsburgh.
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