The Vancouver Canadians began another series on a losing note with an 8-5 setback to the Tri-City Dust Devils at Ron Tonkin Field Tuesday.
The Dust Devils scored first when Kenyon Yovan homered on the first pitch from Canadians starter Alex Nolan to begin the second inning.
The C’s tied it up in the bottom of the second against Dust Devils starter Taylor Ahearn. They loaded up the bases with a Sebastian Espino leadoff walk, a single to center by Philip Clarke and a base hit to left by Davis Schneider. Eric Rivera‘s fielder’s choice forced out Schneider at second but brought in Espino with the tying run.
Tri-City exploded for seven runs in the third. Jeremy Arocho walked on four straight pitches and was tripled home by Livan Soto, who wound up scoring on a throwing error by Orelvis Martinez at short. A bunt single by Jordyn Adams and two more base hits from Yovan and Kevin Maitan loaded the bases. Kyle Kassar walked to score Adams and Griffin Mazur‘s sacrifice fly plated Maitan to put the Dust Devils ahead 5-1. Luis De Los Santos‘ fielding error at second allowed Steven Rivas to reach base and reload the bases. Arocho then blooped a single to center to drive in Maitan and Kassar to make it an 8-1 game. That was the last hitter Nolan would face.
Vancouver responded with three runs in their half of the third. A trio of base hits to right by Tanner Morris, Spencer Horwitz and Martinez got Morris home to open the inning. A wild pitch by Ahearn allowed Horwitz and Martinez to move up a base before a sac fly to center by Will Robertson scored Horwitz. A single to left by Espino scored Martinez to cut Tri-City’s lead to 8-4.
The Canadians added one more run in the fifth. Horwitz led off with a base hit up the middle and raced to third on a one-out single to right by Robertson off Ahearn. Against Dust Devils reliever Kyle Molnar, Horwitz would tag up and score on an Espino sacrifice fly to center.
C-Notes
The C’s had two men on in the first inning when De Los Santos reached on a throwing error by Arocha at second to begin the game and Horwitz drew a one-out walk. Martinez flied out to center and Robertson struck out looking for out number three.
Despite having the bases loaded with nobody out in the second, the C’s could only manage one run. After Rivera’s RBI fielder’s choice, De Los Santos struck out and Rivera was thrown out trying to steal second to end the inning.
Morris singled to right and Horwitz singled to left started the seventh inning off Molnar but Dakota Donovan struck out Martinez and Robertson and got Espino to ground out to extinguish that rally.
Vancouver had a two-out rally in the eighth when Rivera doubled to right and De Los Santos was hit by a Donovan pitch but Eric Torres struck out Morris to end the threat.
Horwitz had a leadoff double to left to start the ninth but Zach Linginfelter zapped the next three men he faced to finish the game.
The hit and on-base leader for the C’s was Horwitz who was 4-for-4 with a walk and his 19th double of the year. Morris had a pair of hits as all nine Canadians hitters reached base safely with eight getting a hit. Vancouver was just 3-for-16 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on base.
Nolan pitched 2-1/3 innings and gave up eight runs (seven earned) on nine hits and two walks while striking out one.
Justin Maese tossed 2-2/3 shutout innings, stranding two Nolan runners navigating around two hits, two walks and a hit by pitch with two strikeouts. Despite walking two batters, hitting another and giving up a single in the fifth, Maese got out of the inning unscathed thanks when Robertson threw out Mazur at third trying to advance from first on a base hit to right by Rivas.
Gabriel Ponce worked around a hit and two walks and struck out one over two shutout frames. Cobi Johnson walked one and whiffed two in a scoreless eighth and Willy Gaston survived two hits and a walk to put up a zero in the ninth as he got Soto to line out to Horwitz for an unassisted double play to double off an Arocho single.
Congratulations to Sebastian Espino for winning High-A West Player of the Week honours. The 21 year-old from the Dominican Republic batted .526 with two doubles, a triple, three home runs and 10 runs batted in. He scored eight runs and drew two walks for the week of August 10-15.
Vancouver’s record is now 41-50 on the season and their woes on Tuesdays continue as they have opened up a series with just five wins in 16 tries.
Sem Robberse makes his second start in a Vancouver uniform Wednesday as he is scheduled to throw the first pitch at 7:05 pm. The game can be heard on CanadiansBaseball.com.
Paxton Schultz and C.J. Van Eyk will follow in the C’s rotation after Robberse on Thursday and Friday. Adam Kloffenstein and Alex Nolan will get the weekend assignments.
Righthanded reliever Parker Caracci has been promoted to Double-A New Hampshire. The Blue Jays have promoted the 24-year old to Manchester after he earned eight saves to go with a record of 3-2 and an earned run average of 2.64. The Ole Miss Rebel posted a WHIP of 1.218 in 44-1/3 innings. Caracci began his pro career with the C’s in 2019 where he posted a 3.03 ERA in 21 appearances. He was drafted twice by the Jays in 2018 and 2019 in the 37th and 21st rounds respectively.
Joining Monty’s Mounties is righty Thomas Ruwe from Low-A Dunedin. The 6-foot-9 hurler signed with the Blue Jays last November as a free agent from Missouri Western. The 25 year-old from Fremont, Nebraska struck out 32 and walked 15 batters over 19-2/3 innings with Dunedin. Ruwe will wear number 40 for the Canadians.
Congratulations to 2018 Canadians infielder Otto Lopez on his call-up to the majors. He batted .297 with a .390 on-base percentage and had an .825 on-base-plus-slugging percentage with the C’s three years ago, earning him a berth on the Northwest League All-Star team. The 22-year old from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic—who grew up in Montreal—hit .330 in 69 games with Double-A New Hampshire and .282 in 11 games with Triple-A Buffalo. His on-base mark was .397 with the Fisher Cats and .404 with the Bisons. Lopez struck out in a pinch-hit at-bat in his major league debut Wednesday.
Former Canadians manager Rick Magnante made headlines in the news recently. He was fired as manager of the Appalachian League’s Johnson City Doughboys for refusing to let his team play Greeneville as one of the players reportedly tested positive for COVID-19. A number of the Doughboy players also quit in protest of Magnante’s firing. For more thoughts on the situation, tune in to Rob Fai for his take on SportsBar Radio.
C’s Alumni Report
New Hampshire humiliated Hartford 12-0 Tuesday.
- Tanner Kirwer – 2/5, 2 2B(4), 2R
- Samad Taylor – HR (15), BB, 2RBI, 2R
- Vinny Capra – 1/4, BB, R
- Chavez Young – 3/5, HR (5), 4RBI, 3R
- Kevin Vicuña – 3/5, RBI, R
- L.J. Talley – 1/4, HR (8), 3RBI
- Chris Bec – 1/4, RBI
- Parker Caracci – 2.0IP 2H 0R/ER 1BB 2K, (W, 1-0)
- Brody Rodning – 1.0IP 1H 0R/ER 0BB 3K
- Marcus Reyes – 2.0IP 0H 0R/ER 1BB 4K
Riley Adams was 3-for-4 with a home run and three RBI and Lane Thomas drew a pinch-hit walk and scored a run in Washington’s 12-6 win over Toronto.
Rowdy Tellez doubled and scored a run as Milwaukee blanked St. Louis 2-0.
Marcus Stroman struck out nine over seven innings but took the loss as the New York Mets lost to San Francisco 3-2.
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