The Vancouver Canadians put an end to a three-game losing streak as they held on for a 6-5 victory over the Everett AquaSox at Everett Memorial Stadium Saturday.
Everett was first on the scoreboard as Noelvi Marte drew a leadoff walk against Jimmy Robbins in the first inning. Marte would come home on a two-out double to center by former Blue Jays farmhand Alberto Rodriguez.
Vancouver would tie it with a two-out rally against Juan Mercedes in the second inning. Garrett Spain kept the inning going with a two-out walk and Mack Mueller took an 0-2 pitch and lined it into left-center for an RBI triple.
Bellevue, Washington-born Addison Barger put the C’s in the lead with a one-out solo home run to right-center field off Mercedes in the third. Leo Jiménez then singled to center and Damiano Palmegiani drew a walk. They moved up a base on a wild pitch before Spain delivered a two-out single to left to put the C’s up 4-1.
The fifth inning saw Jiménez and Palmegiani reach base again with one out as Jimenez made it to the first on a fielding error by Justin Lavey at third and Palmegiani worked the count to ball four. Zach Britton would bring Palmegiani home with a double to left field to up the C’s lead to four.
The AquaSox matched that run against Justin Kelly in the home half of the fifth. Cole Barr worked a leadoff walk with a full count and Marte singled on the next pitch to put two runners on. Mike Salvatore singled with one out to left to drive in Barr with the Frogs second run.
Vancouver added what turned out to be a big run in the ninth on a two-out rally. Palmegiani singled to left off Evan Johnson and came all the way around to score on a Britton double to right.
Everett would make the game a nail-biter a half-inning later against Juan Nuñez. A one-out single to left by Ty Duvall, a two-out knock to center by Marte and a walk by Andy Thomas loaded the bases. They all made it home on a Salvatore three-run double to left but Nuñez would strand pinch-runner Myles Miller by getting Rodigurez to fly out to left to end the game.
Zach Britton doubled twice and drove in two runs, including the winner on Saturday. 
Damiano Palmegiani had a single and two walks Saturday. 
Garrett Spain got on base four times Saturday. 
Justin Kelly (#40) got the win Saturday. To his left are Juan Nunez, Ricky Tiedemann (#31) and Naswell Paulino. 
Mark Simon struck out two in a perfect inning Saturday for the hold.
C-Notes
The C’s would up stranding Mueller’s RBI triple in the second inning and an Andrés Sosa walk when Hugo Cardona struck out swinging.
Britton’s two-run double in the fifth sent Mercedes to the showers and a walk by Spain against Villarreal loaded the bases with one out but Mueller struck out and Sosa hit into an inning-ending fielder’s choice at second.
Cardona made it to second after a throwing error by Villarreal to begin the sixth inning but was thrown out at third by Marte at short on a Berroa fielder’s choice. Berroa stole second but he would be left there when Barger and Jiménez grounded out to short.
Spain was hit by a Villarreal pitch with two outs in the seventh but did not make it any further.
Britton paced the C’s attack with two doubles and two RBI. Spain was on base four times with two hits, a walk and a hit by pitch and Palmegiani reached three times with a hit and two walks. Barger clubbed his 14th homer of the year while Mueller tripled and Jiménez singled. Sosa drew a walk and Berroa stole his 25th base of the year.
Robbins retired five in a row to get him into the third. He stranded a one-out walk to Marte and a two-out free pass to Salvatore by striking out Rodriguez swinging. Robbins would turn the ball over to Kelly after striking out James Parker and Lavey to begin the fourth. Kelly would get to ball three on Tingelstad and Duvall with the former getting a base hit to center and the latter striking out swinging.
Kelly limited the damage to one run in the sixth after Salavatore’s one-out run-scoring single by stranding runners at second and third. Salvatore moved up to second on his base hit to push Marte to third but Kelly got Rodriguez to line out to first before striking out Parker for out number three.
Kelly would retire the side in order in the sixth and allowed just a two-out walk to Thomas in the seventh before turning the ball over to Mark Simon. He bookended a Parker groundout to short with swinging strikeouts of Rodriguez and Lavey.
Robbins allowed a run on a hit and three walks and struck out five over 3-2/3 innings. Kelly pitched 3-1/3 innings and gave up a run on three hits and two walks while whiffing four to earn the victory. Simon pitched a perfect eighth with two punchouts to get the hold, throwing eight of his 10 pitches for strikes. Nuñez was charged with three runs on three hits and a walk before finishing the ninth.
Abdiel Mendoza gets the starting assignment for the C’s in the sixth and final game of the series. Bryce Miller will pitch for Everett in a 4:05 p.m. start on CanadiansBaseball.com.
C’s first baseman P.K. Morris has been placed on the seven-day injured list retroactive to July 7. He rolled his ankle after handling a ground ball at first base during Wednesday’s game.
According to the transactions page, Francisco Fajardo has been promoted from Dunedin to Vancouver. The switch-hitting 5-foot-10, 163-pound utility man from Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic signed as a free agent with the Toronto Blue Jays on July 4, 2018. The 22 year-old Fajardo made his stateside debut with Dunedin this year after batting .300 and .365 with the Dominican Summer League Blue Jays in 2019 and 2021. He has seen action in 29 games in the city of Dunedin, playing two games at the Florida Complex League with the other 27 spent with the D-Jays where he had two doubles, two triples and two home runs. Fajardo has played second base, third base, left field and right field with Dunedin this season. He was a shortstop for three games with the DSL Jays in 2019.
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