The Vancouver Canadians dropped their third in a row to the Everett AquaSox 10-5 at Everett Memorial Stadium Friday.
The C’s did manage to score the game’s first run against Jimmy Joyce in the first inning. Leadoff hitter Steward Berroa walked on a 3-2 pitch, stole second and third and got up and scored when rehabbing Mariners catcher Luis Torrens sailed a throw into left field.
That lead was very short-lived. Noelvi Marte ran the count full before drawing a leadoff walk and he would score on the next pitch as rehabbing Mariners outfielder Kyle Lewis launched a two-run home run to left-center field off Ricky Tiedemann.
Marte would cross the plate again when he belted a home run to begin the third off Tiedemann.
Everett would chase Tiedemann from the game when Lewis singled past a diving Glenn Santiago at third base with two outs in the fifth. Sean Wymer then served up back-to-back homers to Torrens and Dariel Gomez to put the AquaSox ahead 6-1.
Vancouver would close the gap against Matthew Willrodt in the sixth. Addison Barger was hit in the foot by a pitch and Damiano Palmegiani drew a walk with one out. They advanced 90 feet on a wild pitch and would score on a throwing error by Marte at short off the bat of Miguel Hiraldo. A four-pitch walk to Garrett Spain and a double steal with Hiraldo taking third led to a Santiago two-run single to cut the Frogs lead to 6-5.
Everett answered back in the bottom of the sixth when Justin Lavey walked on the first four pitches of the inning from Wymer. Lavey stole second and scored on a Cole Barr one-out single to left. Barr got to second on the throw home and he would score when Wymer threw one away after Myles Miller hit one back to the mound.
The Frogs saved up one more long ball for Jol Concepcion in the eighth. A Trent Tingelstad leadoff walk was driven in by Marte as he went deep to left-center to give Everett double digits in the run column.
C-Notes
Hiraldo drew a leadoff walk in the second but was caught stealing second when Spain struck out. Anthony Morales picked up a one-out free pass but was forced out by Berroa on a 4-6 fielder’s choice. Berroa stole second but Barger tapped one back to the mound.
The C’s got their first hit in the fourth as Parker could not find the handle on Palmegiani’s slow roller to third. Zach Britton would ground into a 3-6 double play to effectively kill that rally.
A Santiago walk with one out in the fifth was left stranded and his RBI single in the sixth was left at second after a passed ball.
A Barger one-out walk against Luis Curvelo in the seventh did not make it any further.
Britton began the eighth with a leadoff free pass but was erased on a Hiraldo 6-4 fielder’s choice. Spain would strike out before Hiraldo went to second on a passed ball but Santiago went down swinging to end the frame.
Kyle Hill worked a 1-2-3 ninth for the Frogs by beginning and ending the inning with strikeouts.
Vancouver had just two hits in this one. Palmegiani had an infield single and a walk and Santiago had the other base knock and also drew a walk. Barger was on base twice with a walk and a hit by pitch. Five of the other six hitters in the C’s lineup drew one walk apiece. Berroa stole three bases to run his total up to 24. Hiraldo has 21 steals and Spain stole his seventh. The C’s had just one hit in six tries with runners in scoring position, leaving five men on.
Tiedemann retired the next three men he faced after Lewis’ first inning homer as he struck out Gomez and James Parker to end the frame.
A single by Lavey to right field started the second inning but Berroa threw him out trying to go for a double. Tingelstad and Barr both walked but Tingelstad was cut down at third as Berroa earned another assist to start a 9-5 inning-ending double play.
Tiedemann battled control issues in the fourth as he sandwiched strikeouts of Lavey and Tingelstad with walks to Parker and Barr. A Tiedemann pitch then went to the backstop with Miller at the plate but the carom allowed Morales to throw out Parker trying to advance to third for the final out.
Morales would throw another runner out as he nailed Miller in the sixth inning after reaching on an error that led to a run. Marte followed with a double to left but Ty Duvall—pinch-hitting for Lewis—grounded into a 3-1 play to end the inning.
Wymer did put up a zero in the seventh as he stranded a two-out walk to Parker.
Tiedemann was roughed up for four runs on four hits and five walks but struck out seven over 4-2/3 innings. Wymer was also whacked for four runs on four hits and two walks with three punchouts over 2-1/3 innings. Concepcion coughed up a two-run homer that included a walk and rung up two batters in his inning of work.
Vancouver and Everett go at it again in another 7:05 p.m. start. The C’s will start Jimmy Robbins against Juan Mercedes on CanadiansBaseball.com.
Despite the final score, it was a beautiful evening at the ballpark. It was nice to be back in Everett Memorial Stadium for the first time since the 2019 season when the C’s ended their year there and before COVID upended everyone’s lives. I remember Rob Fai in the broadcast booth calling what turned out to be his final game in his 1,000-plus game career with Monty’s Mounties. I also remember Alek Manoah sitting in the stands behind home plate as his schedule start was skipped in the season finale in favour of Winder Garcia as the then-17 year-old allowed just one run in five innings in his Northwest League debut. I was able to meet AquaSox game host and now road announcer Steve Willits for the first time and was able to renew acquaintances again Friday night. I would also like to say thanks a million to AquaSox broadcaster Pat Dillon and Director of Corporate Partnerships Mike MacCulloch for granting me media access for the game.
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