The Vancouver Canadians lost 1-0 in eight innings in game one of their doubleheader to the Eugene Emeralds before handing out a 12-4 beatdown in game two at P.K. Park Saturday.
A bunt single to third by Hunter Bishop advanced placed runner Ghordy Santos to third before Marco Luciano lined a single down past Addison Barger at third to plate Santos with the only run off C’s reliever Jimmy Burnette.
Game 2 Recap
Steward Berroa picked up his first hit as a Vancouver Canadian with a leadoff double against Emeralds starter Randy Rodriguez in the first inning. Berroa made it to third on a fly ball by Leo Jiménez before scoring on an Addison Barger single to right.
The Emeralds evened things up in the fourth against C’s reliever Naswell Paulino. A leadoff walk by Casey Schmitt was advanced to third on a Carter Aldrete double down the left field corner. Luis Toribio then lined a single past a diving Davis Schneider at second to score Schmitt.
Vancouver would regain the lead in the fifth against Em’s reliever Brett Standlee in the fifth. Garrett Spain drew a walk on a 3-2 pitch and Berroa got on base with an infield single to short that Marco Luciano could only making a diving stop on. Berroa was forced out on a Jiménez 6-4 fielder’s choice. Spain would score on a infielder bouncer to second by Addison Barger.
The Canadians would break the game wide open in the sixth against Eugene reliever Juan Sanchez. The lefty’s first four pitches missed the strike zone and resulted in a leadoff walk to Riley Tirotta. Sanchez also walked Zach Britton before a double steal and a Rodolfo Bone passed ball that went through his legs saw Tirotta cross the plate with Vancouver’s third run. Andrés Sosa heard ball four to put runners on the corners and Davis Schneider hit a ground-rule double to left to drive in Jiménez to make it 4-1. Spain singled up the middle to drive Sosa to chase Sanchez from the game.
Abel Adames took over on the mound for Eugene but he could not keep the Vancouver bats in check. Spain would steal second base and Bone’s throw went into the outfield to allow Schneider to come from home with run number six for the Canadians. Berroa drew a walk and stole second base to join Spain in scoring position. Jiménez was then hit by a pitch to load the bases. Barger then got the C’s into double dights with a grand slam to right-center. Fittingly, P.K. Morris then went deep to right at P.K. Park to give Vancouver a 10-run lead. Tirotta nearly made it back-to-back-to-back jacks but his deep fly ball to the warning track in left was caught. Britton kept the rally going with a one-out double to left-center. Sosa heard ball four again before Spain singled to center to score Britton. Ronaldo Flores relieved Adames and needed one pitch to end the inning as he got Berroa to softly line out to second.
The Emeralds would get to C’s reliever Thomas Ruwe for three runs in the seventh. Carter Williams singled on a 0-2 pitch and Santos doubled to the right field corner to begin the frame. Ruwe lost Hunter Bishop on a 3-2 pitch to load the bases. Ruwe was then called for a balk to score Williams and move the other runners up 90 feet. Glowenke drove in Santos and Bishop with a single to left but Mack Mueller—a defensive replacement for Britton in the bottom of the sixth—started a 7-6-4 relay to cut down Glowenke at second base. Ruwe walked Pomares but then got Schmitt to hit into a game-ending 6-4-3 double play.
C-Notes
Zach Britton had Vancouver’s first two hits with a base hit to right with one out in the third inning before getting a hustle double inside the left field foul line with two outs in the fifth but made it no further. In between, P.K. Morris had a two-out walk in the fourth but was stranded.
Riley Tirotta kept the sixth inning going with a two-out single to right but he would remain 270 feet away from scoring. The C’s got two runners aboard in the seventh on a one-out single by Mueller and a two-out walk from Britton but Harry Ray struck out swinging.
With Ray at second as the placed runner in the eighth, it appeared Steward Berroa was hit on the hand with a pitch but home plate umpire Hector Cuellar did not agree. C’s manager Brent Lavallee argued to call but it was to no avail. Berroa would strike out swinging. A fly ball to right by Leo Jiménez got Ray over to third but Tirotta grounded out to third.
Vancouver was 0-for-5 with seven runners left on base after mustering just four hits and two walks. They struck out nine times against Kyle Harrison over five innings, twice against Nick Morreale in two frames and once against Brooks Crawford in the eighth.
C’s starter Adam Kloffenstein did a nice job of managing contact in the first two innings. He stranded a Luciano infield single that just stayed fair down the third base line in the first inning. The second inning saw another infield single by Casey Schmitt to start the second as Kloffenstein had it deflect off his glove to second base. A one-out bloop single to right by Carter Aldrete put runners on the corners but Kloffenstein got Toribio to ground out into a 4-6-3 double play.
The third inning saw Kloffenstein lose the strike zone with a leadoff walk to Jimmy Glowenke and two-out free passes to Luciano and Jairo Pomares but he struck out Santos and Bishop and got Schmidt to pop out to second.
Kloffenstein wiggled his way off the hook again in the fourth after Patrick Bailey doubled to center before a one-out walk by Luis Toribio. Glowenke hit a tapper back to the mound that advanced the two runners 90 feet apiece but Kloffenstein struck out Santos to end the threat.
Kloffenstein finished up with four shutout innings despite four hits and four walks. He struck out three and recorded five of his seven outs in play on the ground.
Hunter Gregory was outstanding in his three perfect innings of work. He struck out the first four men and the last four men he faced. Burnett took the loss, giving up hits to the two men he faced to fall to 1-2.
Game 2 Notes
Barger was thrown out trying to steal second after his RBI single. P.K. Morris had a base hit up the middle with two outs and a passed ball by Bone moved them into scoring position but Bone redeemed himself by hanging on to a foul tip on a strikeout by Tirotta.
Schneider was the Canadians lone baserunner in the second when he was hit by a Rodriguez pitch.
Jiménez and Morris had one-out and two-out walks respectively in the third with Jiménez stealing a base in between but they were left on.
Jiménez had a leadoff double in the seventh down into the left field corner and got to second on a Barger groundout to the right side of the infield. Anthony Morales—who replaced Sosa behind the plate in the bottom of the sixth—was denied of a hit on a sliding grab by Carter Williams in right and Tirotta popped out to short to leave Jiménez at third.
Berroa, Barger, Morris and Spain all had two hits with Berroa and Spain drawing a walk. Barger drove in six runs, four of them on his fifth home run of the season, and Spain drove in two. Morris clubbed his fourth homer of the year while Berroa, Schneider, Britton, Span and Jimenez all had doubles.
Jiménez and Britton also drew a walk while Jiménez and Schneider got hit by pitches. Jiménez stole his third base of the year, Britton and Tirotta added their fifth swipes of the year, Spain got number four and Berroa confiscated his first bag as a Canadian.
Vancouver was 5-for-15 in the RISP department and left eight men on base.
Berroa helped C’s starter Chad Dallas get out of the first inning by throwing out Hunter Bishop at third after he singled with one out on a 9-5 putout.
Dallas got into a bases loaded jam with nobody out when he sandwiched a Aldrete base hit with walks to Schmitt and Toribio but he struck out the side by getting Bone looking and Carter Williams and Santos swinging.
Paulino had a 1-2-3 third inning but was able to limit the damage to a run in the fourth by striking out Bone, Williams and Santos strand runners at the corners. He retired the first two men he faced in the fifth and would have had a 1-2-3 inning but Spain could not hold on to the ball as he tried to make a running catch in left-center off the bat of Pomares who was credited with a double. Paulino would retire Schmitt on a fly ball to left to end the inning.
Dallas worked around three hits and two walks and struck out four over two shutout innings. Paulino earned his first win of the season by pitching three innings and giving up one run on three hits and a walk while striking out three.
Ryan Boyer had a 1-2-3 sixth inning punctuated with a strikeout before Ruwe finished off the seventh in which he allowed three runs on three hits and two walks.
The top pitching prospect in the Toronto Blue Jays system will be joining Monty’s Mounties. First reported by Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi and made official on the MiLB.com transactions page, lefthander Ricky Tiedemann has earned a promotion to Vancouver after a scintillating start to his pro career with Dunedin. The Jays third round pick in the 2021 draft out of Golden West College in Huntington Beach, California struck out 10 in a five-inning, two-run outing in Tampa Friday night. The Florida State League Pitcher of the Month for April posted a 3-1 record with a 1.80 earned run average for the D-Jays. In 30-1/3 innings, the 6-foot-4, 225-pound Tiedemann struck out 49 batters and walked 13, limiting hitters to a .115 batting average. The younger brother of Tal Tiedemann, a pitcher in the Texas Rangers organization, will turn 20 on August 18. He is rated the Blue Jays number three prospect overall by Baseball America and number six by MLB Pipeline.
Davidi says Cuban pitching prospect Yosver Zulueta may also be heading to YVR but that has not been made official. The 24 year-old righthander from Remedios, Cuba is also coming off a 10 K effort as he sat down 10 Tampa Tarpons in 4-2/3 innings May 12. The 6-foot-1, 190-pound Zulueta has averaged four innings a start in his three appearances on the mound with Dunedin and has a 23-3 total strikeout/walk total over 12 innings.
In another roster move, righthander Mark Simon is on the seven-day injured list. He had given up five runs in his last two outings, including three runs in the series opener against the Emeralds that concluded on Thursday.
The C’s send Trent Palmer to the mound in the series finale while the Emeralds will go with Ryan Murphy. First pitch is at 6:05 p.m. on CanadiansBaseball.com and MiLB.TV. Vancouver is at the .500 mark at 14-14.
C-Tweets
C's Plus Baseball | A Vancouver Canadians Blog 
One thought on “C’s Recap – Gregory K’s Eight in Game 1, Barger’s Bomb in Game 2 Boosts Canadians to Doubleheader Split Against Emeralds”