The Vancouver Canadians outslugged the Everett AquaSox 12-8 at Funko Field Tuesday.
Dasan Brown got things rolling for Vancouver with a walk on a 3-2 pitch from Jimmy Joyce to start the game. A wild pitch, a balk and a Damiano Palmegiani sacrifice fly to center allowed Brown to come home with the game’s first run.
Brown was back at it again by drawing another free pass off Joyce to begin the third inning. The C’s leadoff man stole second, went to third on a wild pitch and beat the throw home on a Palmegiani ground ball to second to increase Vancouver’s lead to 2-0. Rainer Nuñez doubled that lead with his first extra-base hit in the Northwest League as he drilled a two-run homer off the top of the netting in left field.
Everett’s first run came with two outs in the bottom of the third when Victor Labrada hit a two-out homer to right-center field off Vancouver starter Abdiel Mendoza.
Vancouver matched that home run when P.K. Morris parked one over the wall in center field to begin the top of the fourth off Joyce. Miguel Hiraldo then singled to first with a sharply hit ball that Robert Perez Jr. could not handle and beat out the barehand throw from Justin Lavey at second with Joyce covering from the mound. Lavey made a diving stop at second to retire Andrés Sosa but Hiraldo moved to second base. Brown followed with his third straight walk before Alex De Jesus bounced a singled to right to score Hiraldo. Palmegiani lined a single to right to drive in Brown and that led to a pitching change as Jarod Bayless took over on the mound for the AquaSox. C’s manager Brent Lavallee elected to start Palmegiani running from first and with Lavey covering the bag, Gabby Martinez singled to the spot where Lavey vacated for a base hit to right and that scored De Jesus to increase Vancouver’s lead to 8-1.
The lead went up to eight for Vancouver when Morris launched another homer off Bayless to begin the fifth.
The AquaSox refused to go away quietly. In the bottom of the fifth, Labrada singled to right with one out and came on a Charlie Welch double to left off Mendoza.
Dariel Gomez homered to right-center off Matt Svanson for a one-out solo shot in the sixth. Ben Ramirez doubled to left and went to third on a Sosa passed ball. Walks to Mike Salvatore and Labrada sandwiched a Lavey strikeout looking before Svanson was replaced by Troy Watson. The bases were unloaded when Welch doubled to left field to make it a 9-6 game.
Everett drew even closer in the eighth against T.J. Brock as Salvatore started the rally on the first pitch of the inning. Salvatore got to second on a passed ball and advanced to third on a Labrada base hit to left with one out. Welch then hit an opposite-field double to right to score Salvatore and Labrada.
A two-out rally in the ninth helped the C’s open up some breathing room. Hiraldo singled to right field off Tim Elliott and Sosa also singled to the nine spot. They would come home on a Brown double to right and a throwing error by Alberto Rodriguez. De Jesus then singled to right on an 0-2 pitch to send Brown to the pentagon.
C-Notes
De Jesus, Nuñez, Morris and Hiraldo all had two hits apiece with De Jesus and Morris walking once. Morris belted his seventh and eighth homers of the season and Nuñez hit his first Northwest League dinger. The on-base leader was Brown who had an RBI double, three walks, a hit by pitch, his eighth stolen base and four runs scored. Martinez was on base three times with a run-scoring knock and two walks. Palmegiani had a run-scoring single and a sacrifice fly for a three RBI night. Sosa also had a single to give eight of the nine Vancouver starters at least one hit. In the RISP department, Vancouver was 5-for-13 with nine men left on.
Mendoza pitched 4-1/3 innings with two runs allowed on six hits and a walk and struck out two. Svanson stranded a Mendoza runner and got the win to go to 2-0 but surrendered four runs on two hits and three walks. Like Mendoza, Svanson also gave up a home run but struck out two over 1-1/3 innings. Watson did not strand any of Svanson’s three runners as he gave up a hit but recorded a strikeout over two-thirds of an inning. Brock stranded a runner for Watson but gave up two runs on three hits and two walks with all three of his outs coming via the K. Cooke really earned the save by stranding the bases loaded for Brock and giving up just one hit over 1-2/3 innings with two punchouts for his third save. He struck out Gomez on a 3-2 pitch in the dirt to leave the bags full.
The Canadians were Robb-ed of two pitchers from the roster before the series began. Righthander Sem Robberse and lefthander Jimmy Robbins have been promoted to Double-A New Hampshire. Robberse led the team in starts (17), innings pitched (86-2/3) and strikeouts (78) as he split eight decisions with an earned run average of 3.12 and a WHIP of 1.15. The 20 year-old Dutchman was also with the C’s last season in Hillsboro.
Robbins gets his second promotion of 2022 after starting the year in Dunedin. During his time with the C’s, the Orlando, Florida native was 0-2 with a 3.82 ERA and had a 46-17 strikeout/walk total in 35-1/3 innings. Best of luck to those two gentlemen with the Fisher Cats.
Joining the C’s from Low-A Dunedin are righthanders Dahian Santos and Sam Ryan. Santos is a 19 year-old from Acarigua, Venezuela who went 4-5 with a 3.44 ERA with Dunedin, striking out 120 batters against 35 walks in 73-1/3 innings over 14 starts and five relief appearances. The 5-foot-11, 160-pound hurler was signed by the Toronto Blue Jays on July 2, 2019. Santos will wear number 15 for Monty’s Mounties.
Ryan is back for a second stint with the C’s. The 23 year-old from Fairfax, Virginia split 2021 with Hillsboro/Vancouver and New Hampshire before being placed on the injured list on July 15 and missing the remainder of the season. The 6-foot-3, 205-pound hurler returned to the mound July 12 with the Florida Complex League Blue Jays where he allowed just one run over six innings over four relief appearances before being reassigned to Dunedin. In his 6-1/3 innings with the D-Jays, Ryan did not give up a run and struck out seven while walking three batters. He will be wearing number 44 with the Canadians.
The Canadians and AquaSox play again Wednesday. The game is on CanadiansBaseball.com at 7:05 p.m.
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