The Vancouver Canadians ended a two-game losing streak by defeating the Tri-City Dust Devils 8-2 at Gesa Stadium Tuesday.
Steward Berroa reached base just two pitches in when he got aboard on an error by Dust Devils shortstop Kyren Paris. A pickoff throw from Tri-City starter Nick Mondak went awry and allowed Berroa to get to third. Zach Britton walked and stole second base before Addison Barger scored Berroa with a fly ball to center for a sacrifice fly.
Davis Schneider doubled the lead for Vancouver in the second when he belted a one-out home run to left.
A two-out rally gave the C’s their third run in the third inning. Trevor Schwecke doubled to left and scored on a base hit to center by newcomer Tyler Keenan.
Barger would hit another run-scoring fly ball in the fifth inning but this one went over the fence in right-center field for a one-out solo shot. Schwecke singled to left and came home on a two-out double to center by Miguel Hiraldo. Schneider then lined a double to right to score Hiraldo to make it 6-0 Vancouver and put an end to Mondak’s evening.
Tri-City broke the goose egg in the fifth against C’s starter Sem Robberse when D’Shown Knowles homered to right to start the inning.
The Dust Devils scored an unearned run off Will McAffer in the eighth. Jordyn Adams reached base on Hiraldo’s fielding error at second and moved up 90 more feet on a wild pitch. Another fielding miscue by Barger at short off the bat of Kyle Kasser got Adams over to third before a sacrifice fly by Gabe Matthews scored Adams.
The C’s put the final touches on this one in the ninth against Connor Higgins. A Schwecke one-out single and wild pitch put him in scoring position. Keenan walked and another wayward pitch put two runners in the diamond red zone. Hiraldo walked to load the bases and Schneider doubled yet again to left to cash in Schwecke and Keenan.
C-Notes
The C’s could not cash in Zach Britton from third after Barger’s sac fly as Schwecke and Keenan went down swinging in the first inning. Mueller was also left in scoring position in the second inning after a two-out single and stolen base when Berroa struck out swinging.
Another runner was left in scoring position by Vancouver in the fourth when Schneider doubled to left with one out and made it to third on a Mueller grounder to second but Berroa was called out on strikes.
Hayden Seig stranded Schneider’s RBI double by getting Spain to ground out to third to end the fifth.
The Canadians had two more runners reach base in the sixth when Britton and Barger both heard ball four with two outs with Britton also stealing second in between but Schwecke struck out on a foul trip.
Greg Veliz managed to subdue the Vancouver bats with a three-up, three-down seventh inning and stranded a one-out double by Mueller in the eighth by getting Berroa and Britton to fly out.
Vancouver left another man in scoring position in the ninth when Spain struck out and Mueller flied out to leave Hiraldo at third after Schneider’s two-run double.
Schneider was 4-for-5 with his fifth homer of the year and three doubles to give him seven in the 2B column. Schwecke had three hits and three runs scored. Barger blasted his 10th dinger, trailing Everett’s Dariel Gomez by one. Barger, Keenan and Hiraldo each had a safety and a base on balls. Mueller had two hits and swiped his first base of the season. Britton walked twice and stole two bases to give him eight in the SB category. Vancouver was 3-for-15 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on.
Robberse faced the minimum in the two innings thanks to a pair of inning-ending double plays. The first was a 6-4-3 twin-killing to take care of a one-out walk to Kyle Kasser. The second was started by Robberse as Edwin Yon hit into a 1-6-3 DP to erase a Osmy Gregorio base hit.
Robberse had to face more than three batters in the third inning but was able to strand a one-out double by Straton Podaras. A ground out to short by Steven Rivas moved Podaras to third but Robberse struck out Jordyn Adams to end the inning.
Two runners got aboard with two outs in the fourth against Robberse when Gabe Matthews and Osorio drew walks but Yon flied out to right.
After Knowles’ homer in the fifth, Adams drew a two-out walk and stole second but Robberse got Kasser to line out to center field.
The sixth was Robberse’s first 1-2-3 frame when he struck out Paris and Matthews swinging and got Gregorio to ground out to second. The 20 year-old Dutchman limited Tri-City to a run on three hits and four walks by striking out four and getting six outs on the dirt. He improves to 3-1 on the season with a 2.03 earned run average.
Abdiel Mendoza began the seventh by whiffing Yon and stranded a two-out walk to Podaras when Rivas lined out to first.
McAffer had three baserunners to deal in the eighth inning with but the first two reached on an error. He walked Gregorio with two outs and had two runners on base but he struck out Yon to end the Tri-City Rally.
Jol Concepcion finished the game with a pair of strikeouts by Knowles and Rivas to bracket a Podaras grounder to short.
With lefty Jimmy Burnette now in New Hampshire, the Canadians have a new southpaw named Jimmy on the roster. Jimmy Robbins was called up from Dunedin to take Burnette’s place and his number as he will wear number 15. In six appearances in the Florida State League this year, Robbins struck out 26 batters against nine walks and four hit by pitches in 17-1/3 innings over six appearances. He had an ERA of 1.56 and an opponents batting average of .167. The 24 year-old from Orlando was Toronto’s 20th pick in the 2019 draft out of Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida. The 6-foot-3, 190-pound Robbins made his pro debut three years ago and pitched 19 innings between the Bluefield and Gulf Coast League Blue Jays that season.
Wednesday sees Chad Dallas get the start for Vancouver against Landon Marceaux. First pitch is at 6:30 p.m. on CanadiansBaseball.com.
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