The Vancouver Canadians exercised the Ron Tonkin Field demons for one night at least after a 4-3 come-from-behind victory Wednesday.
Davis Schneider was installed in the leadoff spot and that move by Canadians manager Brent Lavallee paid immediate dividends as Schneider homered on a 1-2 pitch off Ross Carver—listed as John Carver and John Ross Carver on his MiLB.com bio page—off the scoreboard in center field in the first inning.
The C’s struck again for another run in the second. Garrett Spain tripled to center on a 0-2 pitch and Andrés Sosa—after Hops first baseman Shane Muntz could not locate a ball in foul territory—produced a one-out sacrifice fly to deep center field to score Mueller with Vancouver’s second run.
Hillsboro broke through against Chad Dallas in the fifth. A bloop single to right by Tristin English that Mueller could not catch up with near the foul line, a walk to Muntz and an infield single to second by Jarrod Watkins loaded the bases with nobody out. Watkins’ grounder eluded a diving Sosa and Schneider’s throw from second went off Dallas’ glove when covering the first base bag. Channy Ortiz and Tim Tawa both walked to score English and Muntz. Abdiel Mendoza relieved Dallas but a two-out wild pitch scored Watkins to give the Hops a 3-2 lead.
Vancouver tied the game with two outs in the sixth when Surrey, B.C. native Damiano Palmegiani lined a homer to left field off Carver in his Canadians debut.
A leadoff triple by Mack Mueller to center that skipped past Tawa on the first pitch of the ninth inning from Christian Montes De Oca put the C’s in business. Sosa drew a walk but Montes De Oca appeared to have him picked off but Sosa scrambled back when De Oca did not back up the play at first. and Schneider walked to load the bases before a one-out bloop single to right by Addison Barger plated Mueller with the winning run.
C-Notes
Leo Jiménez was on base in his first two at-bats as he was hit by a pitch in the first inning off the left forearm and singled to center in the third but was caught stealing to end the frame.
Zach Britton led off with a single to right and Palmegiani drew a walk to begin the fourth but they were left stranded.
Hugo Cardona kept the seventh inning going with a two-out walk on a 3-2 pitch by Dillon Larsen. Cardona got to second on a passed ball by Adrian Del Castillo before stealing third but Schneider popped out to second.
The C’s came knocking again in the eighth when Jiménez walked with one out against lefty Hugh Fisher and made it to third on a two-out ground rule double to right by Palmegiani but Spain was retired on a bouncer to first. It appeared Spain was safe at first but base umpire Zee Zdenek felt Fisher got to the bag just in time.
The bases were still loaded In the ninth after Barger’s RBI single but Jiménez grounded into a 5-3 inning-ending double play.
Steward Berroa pinch-hit for Britton in the eighth inning and struck out. He remained in the game in right field. The other defensive moves in the eighth saw Palmegiani move from third to first, Mueller from right to left field, Sosa from first to catcher and Cardona from left to third.
Palmegiani turned in the lone two-hit game for Vancouver with a home run and a double to go along with a walk. Jiménez was on base three times with a hit, a hit by pitch and a walk. Schneider drew a walk to go with his seventh home run of the season. Britton was 1-for-3 before leaving the game while Mueller and Spain both tripled and scored a run. Cardona and Sosa heard ball four once.
Vancouver left eight men on base and went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position.
Dallas survived a pair of two-out infield singles on the left side of the infield by A.J. Vukovich and Del Castillo. A Palmegiani throwing error at third gave Vukovich an extra base and Barger made a diving stop to his right on Del Castillo at short but his throw on one knee was unable to get the Hops catcher. Bliss popped up on the next pitch to strand two runners in scoring position.
After retiring 10 in a row, Dallas ran into trouble in the fifth. He pitched four-plus innings and gave up three runs on four hits and three walks while striking out two. Five of his seven outs were on the ground.
Mendoza gave up a hit and plunked a batter and his wild pitch allowed a Dallas runner to score but he struck out four over three shutout innings. Barger made a nice leaping grab at short to rob Caleb Roberts of a hit to help Mendoza begin his outing. Cardona helped Mendoza escape the fifth inning with a leaping catch near the left field fence to rob Del Castillo. A two-out single by Tawa that skipped past Sosa at first base kept the seventh inning going. A balk and a Roberts hit by pitch put two runners on but Mendoza struck out Vukovich to end his outing.
Sean Wymer overcame a throwing error by Cardona at third that allowed Ryan Bliss to reach base with one out. Bliss stole second with two outs before Wymer struck out Muntz swinging.
Ryan Boyer worked a three-up, three-down ninth inning to earn his first save with the C’s. He still has a 0.00 earned run average after nine innings.
Yosver Zulueta gets the start for Vancouver against Jamison Hill. Game time is 7:05 p.m. on CanadiansBaseball.com and MiLB.TV.
Palmegiani was originally assigned number 36 but is now wearing number 7, previously worn by Trevor Schwecke after he was called up to Double-A New Hampshire.
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