The Vancouver Canadians won their third in a row in comeback fashion as they downed the Tri-City Dust Devils 4-3 in 10 innings at Nat Bailey Stadium Sunday.
The Dust Devils scored a quick run in the top of the first against Canadians starter Alejandro Melean. The first pitch of the game was drilled off the left field fence in front of the C’s bullpen by Jordyn Adams for a leadoff double. Two pitches later, Mike Peabody brought Adams home with a single to right that just eluded a diving Miguel Hiraldo at second. Adams was able to beat the throw home to give Tri-City a 1-0 advantage.
The Dust Devils would score in the fifth inning against C’s reliever Garrett Farmer with a two-out rally. Farmer hit Christian Molfetta on the leg with a pitch and that was followed by a walk to Adams. Peabody chopped a ball to second where it was thrown away by Miguel Hiraldo. Peabody was credited with a single but not an RBI as Hiraldo’s error saw Molfetta score run number two for the Dust Devils.
Farmer began the sixth by getting the first two men he faced but Francisco Del Valle jumped on the first pitch from Farmer and lifted it over the wall in right-center to make it 3-0 Tri-CIty.
Vancouver could not solve Dust Devils starter Ryan Costeiu over five innings or reliever Houston Harding in the sixth but they broke through against Hayden Seig in the seventh. Cameron Eden was able to get on base after his grounder got underneath the glove of Osmy Gregorio at short. Addison Barger then pulled a single to right to get Eden over to third. Trevor Schwecke followed with a double to the warning track in right to bring home Eden and advance Barger over to third.
P.K. Morris then worked the count full before striking out but the ball got away from Molfetta and Barger scampered home. However, umpires Zdenek Zidek and Hector Cuellar sent Barger back to third. Barger would get home when Hiraldo hit a nubber back to the mound. Seig shoveled the ball toward Molfetta at home but could not hang on to the ball when Barger ran into his glove while running wide of the place. Barger was just able to avoid being tagged by Molfetta when he recovered by dancing around him and reaching back to step on the plate to score the C’s second run.
The C’s would tie things up in the ninth against Dust Devils reliever Zak Kristofak. A leadoff single to right field and a stolen base by Barger was advanced to third on a fly ball to right by Schwecke. A deep enough fly ball by Morris to right allowed Barger to score the tying run.
With Miguel Hiraldo as the placed runner on second, in the 10th inning, Davis Schneider would be the hero as he lined a 3-2 pitch from Emilker Guzman past a diving Kenyon Yovan at third down the left field line to bring Hiraldo home with the winning run.
C-Notes
Melean limited the first inning damage to one run. Peabody stole second after his RBI single and made it to third on a Gregorio groundout to second but Melean struck out Gabe Matthews and Yovan to end the frame.
Nine batters in a row were retired by Melean and he got help from Schwecke who dove to his left to snare an Adams grounder with one out in the third. He got up from his third base position and made the throw to an outstretched P.K. Morris at first to just get Adams.
The streak of nine men set down came to an end when Gregorio rang one off the wall for a leadoff double in the fourth inning. Matthews got Gregorio over to third with a ground out to first but Gregorio had to stay at third on a shallow pop up to left that brought Schneider very close to the infield dirt. Del Valle then popped out to short to leave Gregorio 90 feet away.
Yovan was shaken up when he appeared to jam his glove hand into the ground. That was after making a diving catch from third base of an Eden bunt with one out in the first. Yovan would remain in the game.
Conor Larkin made his C’s debut and had a 1-2-3 seventh. He struck out José Guzman before getting Molfetta to ground out to third. Schwecke made a nice backhanded stab of a sharp ground ball from Molfetta and made a strong throw to first for the out. Larkin then retired Adams on a fly ball to center.
Jol Concepcion cobbled together two perfect innings with four punchouts, throwing a first pitch strike to all six batters he faced.
Alex Nolan stranded Edwin Yon as the placed runner in the 10th with a perfect frame. The Burlington, Ontario native had a strikeout and earned his first win of the season. The C’s bullpen sat down the final 13 Dust Devil hitters in a row.
Melean allowed one run on three hits and struck out five without walking anyone over four innings. Four of his five outs in play were on the ground.
Farmer gave up two runs on two hits, a walk and a hit by pitch but struck out two in his two innings.
Vancouver hurlers struck out 14 batters and issued just one walk.
Harry Ray had Vancouver’s first hit of the afternoon with a single to left with one out in the third. Anthony Morales would strike out before Ray was thrown out trying to steal second.
Schneider was the second baserunner of the game when he was hit on the hip by Harding to start the sixth inning. After Ray was caught looking at strike three, Schneider would steal second base. Morales then hit a ball that had the distance but it was just foul near the left field pole. After a 12-pitch battle, Morales would ground out to second and Berroa struck out to end the inning.
The C’s had runners on the corners with one out in the seventh after drawing to within one. José Guzman almost lost a pop up by Schneider at second base before reaching out and making the catch at the last moment. Ray would go down swinging to end the rally.
Vancouver went down in order in the eighth against Kristofak with Eden taking one to the warning track in right field. Del Valle took an awkward route before breaking sharply to his left to make the catch for the third out.
Emilker Guzman took too much time and had an automatic ball called against him as a result. He nearly had another automatic ball but Molfetta apparently called time before the pitch clock went to zero. One pitch later, the winning run came home for Vancouver.
Barger had two hits, two runs scored and his seventh stolen base of the year. Schneider reached base twice with a hit and a hit by pitch and swiped bag number two for him. Schwecke had an RBI double, Hiraldo had an RBI singled and Ray had a base knock. The C’s drew zero walks but went 3-for-9 with runners in scoring position while stranding four.
The 18-17 Canadians are back on the field Tuesday in Hillsboro. First pitch is at 6:35 p.m. from Ron Tonkin Field. Sem Robberse is slated to start for the Canadians. The game is on CanadiansBaseball.com and MiLB.TV.
Trent Palmer had a strong debut with Double-A New Hampshire after being promoted from Monty’s Mounties. He allowed just one run on three hits and two walks over five innings, recording six strikeouts. The Fisher Cats would defeat Erie 7-3 in 11 innings.
Radar Gun Rundown
Melean had strikeouts of 95, 94, 82 and 79 miles per hour. Farmer had punchouts at 81, 73 and 82 and was between 72 and 92. Larkin whiffed a batter at 80. He clocked in at 79 and was up to 95. Concepcion checked in with K’s of 80, 86, 82 and 95 and touched 98. Nolan had a strikeout at 93. He was at 83 and got up to 97.
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