The Vancouver Canadians scored the first four runs and last four runs of the game on the 4th of July to beat the Everett AquaSox 8-4 at Everett Memorial Stadium Monday.
The C’s got down to business in the first inning against Bryce Miller when Steward Berroa tripled to center on a 0-2 pitch before Addison Barger blasted a two-run home run. Damiano Palmegiani then took one deep over the wall in left-center to give Vancouver a 3-0 lead.
Garrett Spain also found his home run stroke as he put one over the wall in right against Miller to open the booth of the fifth to make it 4-0 C’s.
The AquaSox would rally to tie the game against Sean Wymer in the bottom of the fifth. A pair of one-out walks to Mike Salvatore and Dariel Gomez and a base hit to center by Trent Tingelstad loaded the bases before James Parker walked to score Salvatore. Noelvi Marte doubled to left to drive in Gomez and Salvatore before rehabbing Mariners outfielder Kyle Lewis produced a game-tying sacrifice fly to send Parker Home.
The Canadians would get back on top in the seventh against Matthew Willrodt. A Miguel Hiraldo grounder to third resulted in a leadoff double. He would steal third with one out before scoring on a Glenn Santiago infield single to first.
Vancouver would pad their lead in the eighth with a two-out rally against Luis Curvelo. Palmegiani doubled to left field and would trot home on a P.K. Morris home run to right-center.
Spain singled off Kyle Hill to lead off the ninth and he came around to score on a Santiago single to left and a fielding error by Tingelstad for the final run of the game.
C-Notes
Zach Britton was supposed to be behind the plate for Monday’s game but he never got there as he was ejected by home plate umpire Hector Cuellar after striking out swinging. Anthony Morales had to wear the catcher’s gear instead.
Morales had the only hit between Palmegian’s home run in the first and Spain’s leadoff blast in the fifth with a two-out single in the third. He also drew a walk to lead off the eighth but he was forced out on a Tyler Keenan 6-4-3 double play. That all happened before Morris’ two-run homer.
Palmegiani hit his second home run of the season along with a double and a hit by pitch. Spain homered for the fourth time and singled and Santiago had two base hits and had the game-winning RBI as the designated hitter in the number nine spot in the lineup. Barger belted his 13th dinger of the year in his first professional game at Everett Memorial Stadium as the Bellevue, Washington native watched the AquaSox as a kid. He also drew a walk. Morris homered, Berroa tripled and Hiraldo doubled and added his 16th stolen base of 2022.
Nick Frasso sat down the first 11 batters he faced and allowed just an Andy Thomas walk with two outs in the fourth. A passed ball moved Thomas to second base but Frasso struck out Alberto Rodriguez to finish his outing. Toronto’s fourth-round pick in the 2020 draft from Loyola Marymount struck out 10 batters with eight in a row all swinging save for the last one to finish one K short of the Northwest League record. Lewis—the 2020 American League Rookie of the Year—struck out twice against the 6-foot-5 righthander. Noelvi Marte put the only two balls in play against Frasso and they were both popups to first.
Vancouver improved to 6-3 in the second half of the Northwest League season to give them a half-game lead over Hillsboro. The C’s also improved their overall record to 36-36.
Sem Robberse starts game two of this series against Prelander Berroa on Wednesday. First pitch is at 7:05 p.m. on CanadiansBaseball.com.
C-Tweets
C's Plus Baseball | A Vancouver Canadians Blog 