The Vancouver Canadians are now four games below the .500 mark after a 6-2 loss to the Everett AquaSox at Ron Tonkin Field Wednesday.
Everett was first on the scoreboard in the first inning. C’s starter Nick Fraze struck out Victor Labrada to start the game and got ahead of Patrick Frick at 1-and-2 before he tripled on a 2-2 pitch. Frick was then brought home on a Cade Marlowe ground ball.
Vancouver knotted the score at 1-1 with a two-out rally in the fourth off Frogs hurler Stephen Kolek. Philip Clarke hit a ground-rule double to right field before trading places with Zac Cook as he scored on Cook’s double to right.
Another RBI triple gave Everett the lead for good in the fifth inning. A Labrada walk on four straight pitches by C’s reliever Willy Gaston came all the way around to score on a three-bagger by Marlowe. A sacrifice fly by Tyler Keenan brought in Marlowe to make it 3-1 Everett.
The AquaSox used yet another triple to increase their lead in the seventh when Labrada tripled with one out off Parker Caracci. Two-out walks to Marlowe and Keenan loaded the bases before Dariel Gomez hit a two-run double to up the AquaSox advantage by four.
Everett added one more run in the eighth off Caracci. David Sheaffer made it to second on an infield single to third and a throwing error by Tanner Morris. A wild pitch and one-out sac fly by Cody Grosse scored Schaeffer to make it a 6-1 game.
Morris accounted for the final run of the game for Vancouver with a one-out home run to right field off Bernie Martinez in the eighth.
C-Notes
Vancouver had two runners in scoring position with one out in the second inning when Sebastian Espino singled to left and went to third on a throwing error by Frick at short that allowed Clarke to get to second. Cook lined out to left before Davis Schneider hit a tapper back to Kolek on the mound.
Eric Rivera drew a leadoff walk in the third—the only free pass for Vancouver on the night—but Kolek retired the next three men he faced.
Morris had a two-out base hit in the fifth to give him two knocks on the night. Clarke was the last C’s baserunner when he was hit by a pitch by David Ellingson in the ninth. For the second straight, Vancouver was limited to five hits.
Fraze pitched two innings, giving up a run on a hit and a walk with two first-inning strikeouts. He escaped a first-and-third situation with one out when an error by Luis De Los Santos at short on a Sheaffer groundball allowed a Connor Hoover walk to get to third.
Lefthander Brandon Eisert pulled off a Houdini act of his own by getting out of a bases-loaded jam with nobody out in the third. He loaded the bases on a Labrada walk and singles by Frick and Marlowe but Eisert struck out Keenan and Gomez before retiring Hoover on a popup to short. Eisert struck out one more in the fourth to give them three on the night.
Gaston suffered the loss with two runs given up in two innings on one hit and a walk while striking out two.
Caracci was roughed up for three runs on four hits and two walks with one whiff in 1-2/3 innings. Connor Law stranded a runner for Caracci and walked just one batter in 1-1/3 innings, striking out one.
Vancouver is now 32-36 on the year and are 7-1/2 games out of a playoff spot to second place Eugene. Spokane is now just one game behind the C’s for third place.
The Canadians will go with C.J. Van Eyk as their starter Thursday against TBD for Everett. The game is at 7:05 p.m. on CanadiansBaseball.com.
C’s Alumni Report
Buffalo downed Syracuse 5-3 Wednesday.
- Logan Warmoth – 0/3, 2BB, SB (12), 2R
- Cullen Large – 1/4, 2B, R
- Nash Knight – 1/4, 2B
New Hampshire dropped another one-run game to Reading 7-6.
- Samad Taylor – 0/4, BB, LF Assist
- Otto Lopez – 2/4, R
- Chavez Young – 2/4, RBI, R, CF Assist
- Kevin Vicuña – 0/3, BB, R
- Chris Bec – 2/4, HR (1), 2RBI
Tim Mayza pitched a shutout ninth in Toronto’s 7-4 loss to Boston.
Rowdy Tellez had a pinch-hit walk and Ryan McBroom had a pinch single as McBroom’s Kansas City Royals upended Tellez’s Milwaukee Brewers 6-3.
Marcus Stroman surrendered just one hit, one walk and one hit by pitch over eight shutout innings, striking out seven and getting nine groundouts as the New York Mets shutout Cincinnati 7-0.
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